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LIFE SKETCHES 



OF 



Father Walworth 



WITH NOTES AND LETTERS 



M^ 



BY 

ELLEN H:'WALW0RTH 

Author of "Kateri Tekakwitha, the Lily of the Mohawks," and "An Old 
World as Seen Through Young Eyes," etc. 



ALBANY, N. Y. 

J. B. LYON COMPANY, PRINTERS 

1907 



LIBRARY of congress] 
Two Gf Dies Receivec 

JAN 14 1908 

.Copyncnt Entry 
clAssM ^ XXc. r«b. 






Copyright, 1907, 
By ELLEN H. WALWORTH. 



1 



I DEDICATE 
THIS 

VOLUME 

To Americans 

WHO DELIGHT IN FREEDOM OF SPEECH 

FROM A Conscientious man 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEES. PAGES. 

I. BOYHOOD.— His Father's Influence. 1 

II. COLLEGE DAYS.— In Prospect and 
in Retrospect — Old Time Culture at 
Williamstown and Albany 15 

in. COLLEGE DAYS AT ''OLD U:N^I0I^.'' 

— Dr. Nott and His Stove — A Re- 
vivalist — Letter to a Classmate .... 33 

IV. LAW OR THEOLOGY? — An Up- 
State 'New Yorker Starts for the 
Metropolis 44 

Y. ''LEAD KmDLY LIGHT." — New- 
man, Carey, Wadhams and McMaster 

— Good-Bye to Mother — Piatt and 
Whitcher — Letters to His Father ... 64 

VI. VOCATIOIsT ; STUDIES ABROAD.— 
At Saint Trond with Isaac Hecker — 
Letters from Belgium, Holland and 
England 87 

VIL A REDEMPTORIST ; A MISSION^ 
PREACHER IN AMERICA.— 
Some of the Best Work of His Life. . 114 

VIII. o:n^e of the paulist fathers. 

— A Remarkable Cluster of Converts . 141 



vi Contents. 

CHAPTEES. PAGES. 

IX. COEEESPONDENCE WITH COK- 
VEETS.— A Letter on the Trinity 

— Hecker, l^ewman, Hewit 170 

X. PASTOE OF HIS FLOCK.— Thirty- 
four Years at St. Mary's, Albany — 
Notes of Sermons — ^' The Eights of 
Labor '' — Poem on the Mass — 
Tribute of a Curate 196 

XL TEAVELS AND I:N^DIA]^ TEAILS. 

— Vacation Studies 239 

XII. WIELDING THE TEMPEEANCE 
SLEDOE - HAMMEE. — Clippings 
from Local and Other Newspapers. . . 261 

XIII. ^'A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY." 

— The Albany Bi-Centennial — The 
American Sunday — Letters of Of- 
ficials 287 

XIV. NEAELY BLIND.— Hymns and Medi- 

tations — Evenings with His Nieces 

— Authorship — Scott, Cooper and 
the Genealogy — Sunset of a Busy 
Life — His Cloister of the Senses. . . 311 

XV. ''IN THE VALLEY OF THE 
SHADOW OF DEATH.'' — The 
Chanting of a Hundred Priests — A 
Memorial Meeting of Fellow-Citizens 

— Three Monuments to Father Wal- 
worth. Conclusion: Funeral and 
Obituary Notices — Honored by 
Albany r-- 325 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth 



WITH NOTES AND LETTERS. 




*^f 



5 /v* ^ ^ 



^•^.-'^ 



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Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 



I. 

BOYHOOD. 
His Father's Influence. 

Clarence A, Walworth was born May 30, 1820, 
at Plattsburg, N. Y., where the Saranac River issu- 
ing from the Adirondacks sinks to rest in the bosom 
of Lake Champlain. He lived through eighty mem- 
orable years of the I^ineteenth Century and was fully 
alive to its swift currents of thought. He died Sep- 
tember 19, 1900, in the Hudson Valley at old 
Albany, beloved of his fellow citizens. He lies 
buried in the village cemetery of Saratoga Springs, 
under whose lofty pines he grew to the full measure 
of a man. 

'No son of ^ew York State ever loved better its 
beautiful valleys and their inhabitants. Few can 
have given more thought than he to their history and 
their destiny, interlinked as they are with the heart's 
life of the I^ation. If he looked " before and after,'' 
it was never to '^ pine for what is not " in idleness or 
discontent. He only w^anted to understand better 
what was yet to be done in the service of God and 
man. Then, as far as in him lay, he did it forth- 
with, and got others to follow his lead. He w^as 
indeed a strong lover of truth and of the common 



2 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

weal, as will be proved later on. And why not? 
To him and his^ " the name of the Great Jehovah 
and the Continental Congress '^ was written all over 
the Green Mountains to the east of him, in myriad 
shadows moving along ilieir slopes. Bullets ploughed 
up on the Saratoga Battleground found their way 
into his juvenile pockets. When the Fourth of Jnly 
guns were fired to rouse the villages between Still- 
water and the Adirondacks, way back in John Quincy 
Adams' administration, the boys he knew and with 
whom he played marbles were accustomed to sing 
out with every blast, ^' Shoot Burgoyne ! " The 
spirit of patriotism was in the air, and so, too, was 
piety, and the fear of the Lord. On Wednesday 
nights he carried a foot-warmer to the Saratoga meet- 
ing House in Church Street, for his mother's com- 
fort whilst at the place of worship. He was happy 
in being with her, his own little feet nestled close to 
hers. It was not always easy to sit still in that 
high-backed, cushioned pew, but the sound of her 
voice was always sweet to him in the singing; nor 
did he ever forget how the deacons came gravely in 
of a Sunday morning, and laid down their best hats 
on the communion table. It was time then for him 
to sit very straight and be on his best behavior. 

If he and another naughty boy broke most of the 
plain little church windows one day, it was an ebul- 
lition of human nature with which a wise father 
knew how to deal. He promptly paid for the glass 
and took strenuous measures to make his young son 
realize its value. I have heard Father Walworth 
say in later life that if fathers v/ere obliged to pay 
for the damage their boys do, it would tend to the 



Boyhood. 3 

observance of law and order and be better for all 
concerned. 

Another incident does not come amiss in this 
connection. Peter Bullions, author of a grammar 
ouce used in many schools throughout the United 
States, was the presiding genius in a Latin room 
at the Boys' Academy in Albany, where Clarence 
took up that study. "' Old Cyclops,'' the boys called 
him, he being blind in one eye. The sight in the 
other was keen enough, however, to enable him to 
catch Clarence at some of his capers. A sudden 
blow on the head with a ruler raised an ugly looking 
welt. School over, the boy hastened to his mother, 
whose sympathies were much excifed. Soothing 
remedies were quickly applied. As soon as Judge 
Walworth came home she showed him the hurt and 
told who inflicted it. Clarence looked for further 
sympathy as his father carefully examined the head 
and listened to every detail from the boy and his 
mother. What then was his surprise when his 
father drew himself up very straight, and looking 
at him, sternly said : " See here, young man ! If 
you ever come from school in that condition again 
I will give you a punishment that you will not soon 
forget." Thus did justice tread close to mercy in 
his bringing up. 

Some further understanding of influences that 
were brought to bear upon his early life may be 
gathered from the following budget of facts and let- 
ters pertaining to his parentage and childhood. 

Clarence was the fourth child and oldest son of 
Reuben Hyde Walworth, the last chancellor of the 
State of :N'ew York, born October 26, 1788, at 



4 Life Sketches or Father Walworth. 

Bozrah, Conn. ; and who died, JSTovember 28, 1867, 
at Saratoga Springs, l!^. Y. 

He was the grandson of Benjamin Walworth, 
born E^ovember 11, 1746, at Groton, Conn., who 
came over from ^ew England to the Hudson valley 
in time to serve with ISTew York volunteers at White 
Plains and Minisink. In 1793, Benjamin, with his 
wife, Apphia Hyde,* and their young family — 
Beuben being then four years old — established his 
home at Hoosick, N. Y., in a house which was occu- 
pied in 1896 by the Geer family. There Benjamin 
died, February 26, 1812. 

'Clarence was the great-grandson of John Wal- 
worth of Groton, Conn., born on Fisher's Island, 
1696; died, 1748. He was a prosperous farmer 
and shipwright, who served the colonies as a cornet 
and captain of dragoons, belonging to the 8 th Regi- 
ment, in the days of Governor Law. 

His father and the great-great-grandfather of 
Clarence was William Walworth, the first settler on 
Fisher's Island, who emigrated from England to 
'New London county. Conn., in 1689. After dwell- 
ing for a time alone on the island — a veritable 
Robinson Crusoe — he became one of the sturdy 
group of Groton pioneer farmers, whose descendants 
are scattered far and wide over the United States. 
They form no small part of the bone and sinew of 
our nation's life, both on land and sea, as may easily 
be seen by turning the leaves of their multitudinous 
genealogies. ,' 

It was as easy and natural in their declining 



* See Hvde Genealogy, and Chancellor Walworth's Address, in 
1859, at tlie " Norwich Jubilee." 



Boyhood. 5 

years for Reuben to prepare the ponderous Hyde 
Genealogy and for Clarence to gather up the Wal- 
worth Family History as it was for St. Matthew 
to begin his gospel with a pedigree. The people 
of Groton, like the children of Abraham, were well 
trained to write up their birth records. To be sure 
the promised Messiah had already come to fulfill 
the prophecies before their ships e\ev touched 
America, but here was a vast new promised land 
opening before them. As their sons and daughters 
moved westward to take possession, where there was 
as yet no vestige of church, court or college records 
to which to refer, well-bound bibles were thrust into 
their hands by their elders with these emphatic 
words : ''Read this, and he sure to ivnte up the Fam- 
ily Record/' Very faithful to this injunction for 
the most part were the Walworths. 

The mother of Clarence was Maria Ketchum 
Averill, born at Plattsburg, JST. Y., December 31, 
1795, of Puritan ancestry. Conscientious as Haw- 
thorne's Hilda, with a tender love for little children 
and the poor, yet quick to drive a drunken Indian 
from her kitchen with lusty blows of the tongs, hers 
was a fine type of moral and physical beauty, pecu- 
liarly American. At the early age of fifteen she 
was wooed and won bv Reuben. He was then a 
promising young lawyer of northern ISTew York, 
just beginning with masterful strides to hew a path 
for himself to legal prominence. He had gone 
from his father's farm at Hoosick, where a love of 
learning had been instilled into him by his scholarly 
half-brother, Mr. Cardell, to study law in the office 
of John Russell, Esq., at Troy; and, later, selected 



6 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Plattsburg as a place to begin practice. It would 
be yet many years before he could grow up to the 
great task before him, that of moulding the un- 
wieldly chancery business of the Empire State into 
shape for coming generations. In the War of 1812 
he showed manly courage at the battles of Platts- 
burg, September 6 and 11, 1814, in which he was 
acting as adjutant-general under Major-General 
Mooers. He was also a colonel of militia. An ink- 
ling of how he won his very young bride is not with- 
out interest. It is told of him that a young relative 
of hers raised a laugh at the lover's expense by tell- 
ing how he overheard these words, in an earnest 
tone : " Do say yes ! Do say yes 1 " He had come 
unexpectedly upon Reuben, who, on one knee be- 
fore the rosebud of a girl, was gaining a slow assent 
to his suit. He was, from the first, a successful 
pleader. Having secured the maiden by his persist- 
ence, Reuben waited patiently, in deference to the 
desires of her relatives, for her to complete a course 
of study, directing meantime, however, by the force 
of his own superior intellect and will-power, the im- 
provement of her mind along certain channels of 
his own choosing. They were married January 16, 
1812, and went to live in a country house he had 
planned for her near Plattsburg. Soon after their 
first child was born he came riding home one day 
from a long round of duties to find that his house 
had been burned to the very ground. In great dis- 
tress he sought far and near for tidings of his young 
wife. Finally he found her a mile away at a neigh- 
bor's home with her babe. She had hastily left her 
bed and run that far for shelter. 'No wonder he im- 



Boyhood. 7 

provised a water bucket brigade soon thereafter, 
and in the years to come served at Saratoga Springs 
as an amateur fire chief of the village. Its pres- 
ent model fire department was preceded by a '^ Wal- 
worth Hose Company." His son Clarence, too, was 
a volunteer fireman, when he was practising law at 
Canandaigua. In pioneer days, it was the man of 
many resources who amounted to something. Every 
boy was expected to handle a variety of tools and 
weapons. The era of specialists was yet to dawn 
in the valley towns of ^ew York. 

After the fire Reuben moved into Plattsburg and 
lived just a few blocks to the northwest of the Fou- 
quet House. It was a comfortable, pleasant home, 
which has since been used as a rectory by the Epis- 
copal clergyman. In that house Clarence was born. 
May 30, 1820, and there the family dwelt till he 
was three years of age. It was Avhilst a resident 
of Plattsburg that Reuben H. Walworth served the 
people as a member of Congress. 

In 1823 he was appointed circuit judge of the 
Fourth Judicial District of the State of I^ew York, 
and removed to Saratoga Springs, living at " Pine 
Grove," on Broadway, in a substantial mansion of 
wood interlined \vith brick, which he purchased 
from Judge Walton. The latter built himself a 
new home at Woodlawn, north of the village, in 
what is now often called Hilton's Park. 

The grove of tall, lithe pines about Judge Wal- 
worth's Saratoga home, that rocked in the breezes 
and sang songs to his children and grandchildren, 
was a beautiful one. It has dwindled to a few 
giant trunks. Bereft of most of their branches, and 



8 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

yet majestic, holding their sparse clumps of needles 
13 p a hundred or more feet from tBe ground, they 
still cast their long afternoon shadows across Broad- 
way between Walton and Van Dam streets. The 
latter was named for Rip Van Dam, a Dutch settler 
who sold " Pine Grove '' to Judge Walton, having 
secured his own title to it from the Indians. The 
contour of the mansion under the pines has been 
much changed. The early morning sunshine still 
slips through, however, between newer houses op- 
posite, and sends cheering rays as of old under the 
great street elms. At breakfast time it lights up 
the north wing office and courtroom, that can still 
be quaintly entered by three inside steps. It also 
finds its way into the old south parlor, with its 
stately fireplace. This has been set apart with other 
rooms as a separate apartment or cottage, with ac- 
cess through a modern front door. One large cen- 
tral room and a broad hall subdivide the space be- 
tween these wings, making up the ample seventy 
feet front of the old homestead. There were origi- 
nally two floors in the central part, the wings being 
but one story high, with an airy basement kitchen 
and large cellars under all. It was a white house, 
with green shutters and several delightful piazzas, 
with colonial columns. An ornamental fence, of 
wood — cut like the rest from ^' the forest prime- 
val " — with heavy posts and curved gates, se- 
cluded the place from the street. But the hospi- 
tality of early days kept their hinges on the swing.* 
It was after a residence of five years at Saratoga 



♦See Reminiscences of Saratoga by W. L. Stone. 



Boyhood. 9 

ithat Clarence's father became chancellor of New 
York State, an office that he held over twenty years. 
This promotion came in the month of April, 1828. 
It was said of him about this time by Captain 
Joshua Harris : ^' He is before Daniel Webster for 
pleading law, although he has got above that." 
This tribute was found entered, in 1829, in Mr. J. 
J. Walworth's diary by Mr. Arthur Clarence Wal- 
worth, of Boston and JSTewton Centre in Massa- 
chusetts. 

In the autumn of 1829 the chancellor removed 
his family to Albany. There he dwelt until 1833, 
w^hen he returned to Saratoga Springs, making that 
his residence thenceforth throughout the year till 
the time of his death, ^N'ovember 28, 1867. 

In Albany he occupied at first a house in Park 
place, and later his home there was northwest of 
the capitol on Washington avenue, in a house that 
•afterward became the residence of Amasa J. 
Parker, Esq. It was within pleasant walking dis- 
tance both of courtrooms and academies. Clar- 
ence's sisters, Mary, Sarah and Eliza, who were 
older than himself, attended the Eemale Academy, 
then in Pearl street north of Maiden lane. His 
brother Mansfield, a native of Albany, was not born 
until December 3, 1830. Clarence himself came at 
once under Dr. T. Pomeyn Beck's excellent man- 
agement at the Boys' Academy. This man's char- 
acter won his undying love and respect. Several 
years of study in English, Latin and French were 
spent at this academy, interspersed with wrestling 
matches, dancing lessons and '^ tag in the mound." 



10 Life Sketches of Fathek Walwoeth. 

Clarence was sent to a boarding-school in tlie Berk- 
shires in 1830. 

There he received a long letter from his father. 
It shows what care and thought was bestowed on this 
lively, intelligent boy of ten years. The eager and 
happy recipient of this important epistle we must 
also picture to ourselves as well developed physi- 
cally, and fair to behold. This first letter was fully 
understood and appreciated, as may be gathered 
from the fact that Clarence treasured it to his dying 
day. It was directed to 

'^' Claee]s[ce Augustus Walwoeth 
" Williamstown 
" Mass. 
" Care of Mr. A. Clark." 

It is here given in full: 

Albany, September 6, 1830. 

My Dear Son — Having arrived at an age when you must 
begin to think and act for yourself, it now becomes your duty 
to apply yourself diligently to obtain an education which 
will fit you for usefulness hereafter. Removed for the first 
time from beneath the paternal roof, you should now begin to 
look forward to the day which is not distant, when you will 
be permanently separated from the parents who have hitherto 
M'^atched over you in the helpless years of infancy. I now write 
to you as a young gentleman commencing his education, 
and who intends to make himself useful and respected through 
life. If you commence with that determination you will 
certainly succeed. If you improve the opportunity now offered 
for the attainment of useful knowledge and the cultivation 
of your mind, and continue to preserve a character for in- 
dustry and sobriety, you cannot fail to be honored, beloved 
and respected after you arrive at manhood. But if you waste 
the next ten years of your life in idleness, or neglect of 



Boyhood. 11 

your studies, the season for improvement will have passed by, 
and for the residue of your life you will be neglected or 
despised. Recollect therefore that everything depends on your 
present exertions and upon the use you now make of your 
time. I shall be able to give you very little besides the neces- 
sary expenses of your education. And when you become of 
age you must expect to provide for yourself. But wealth 
and honor are within your reach and may be obtained by your 
own exertions. Strive to be first in your class, first in your 
school, first in every situation in which you may be placed. 
If you do this you will be the favorite of your instructor, 
an ornament of the school and the pride of your parents, 
as you may hereafter hope to be the pride and ornament 
of your country. If you wish to be a gentleman be careful 
always to conduct yourself like one. Scorn to tell a lie on 
any occasion, or to be guilty of any mean or dishonorable 
action. Be civil to your fellow students and kind and oblig- 
ing to all if you wish to be beloved and respected by them. 
Never wrangle or quarrel yourself, nor interfere with the 
quarrels of others except for the purpose of preventing or 
settling disputes. Never remain in ignorance of anything 
which you can learn by examining your books or by inquiring 
of your preceptor. Be civil and obliging to Mrs. Sloane and 
follow her directions as to your clothes etc., and she will 
be as a kind mother to you. Pray to God to keep you from 
everything that is evil, that you may be loved and respected 
thro' life, and enjoy the society of the blessed in Christ, 
hereafter. 

I shall go to Saratoga for your mother and Mary on 
Wednesday. Sarah and Eliza are here already. Your letters 
for your mother must therefore be directed to Albany in 
future. The news of the recent revolution in France, produced 
by the arbitrary and tyrannical acts of the king, you have 
probably already seen in the paper. 

Your affectionate father, 

R. H. Walworth. 
Master Clarence Augustus Walworth. 

Could such words, from such a source, fail of 
their effect in forming character? 



12 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

This was followed by a second letter equally in- 
structive and no less valued. There are two copies 
of it extant. One is in the chancellor's own hand- 
writing and the other in that of Clarence. He was 
often asked for his father's autograph. If he ever 
had a thought of yielding this original letter to some 
biographer or collector, he must have changed his 
mind. After his death it was found, with the copy 
he had made of it, among his private papers. It 
is worded as follows: 

Albany, Oct. 18, 1830. 

My Deak Son : — Since my letter of the 6th. of September, 
I have been most of the time in New York attending the 
court of Errors which has prevented my writing sooner. 
I met Mr. Clark there last week and had the pleasure of 
learning from him that you were making good progress in 
your studies, particularly in Arithmetic. That is an im- 
portant branch in education in whatever situation you may 
hereafter be placed in life. By it you will learn to compute 
the value of time and the great waste that the loss of a 
single hour each day may produce in the few years allotted 
to you to prepare for a life of usefulness and honor. It will 
also teach you the necessity of prudence and economy, by 
showing the aggregate of your daily expenses at the end of 
each year, and you will also see that a single shilling saved 
each day and placed at compound interest will make a man 
wealthy and independent in the course of a few years. Arith- 
metic is absolutely necessary in all the ordinary businesses 
and pursuits of life, and the study of the higher branches 
of mathematics tend to enlarge the powers of the mind, and 
produce habits of thinking and reasoning from causes and 
effects which are calculated to make you useful and respected 
in the world. I hope therefore you will not be contented 
with obtaining a mere superficial knowledge of this most 
important branch of science and education. Converse freely 
with your preceptor upon everything you do not fully under- 



Boyhood. 13 

stand and never rest satisfied until you are fully acquainted 
with the use of figures as applied to every subject which 
may hereafter be useful to you either in the study of other 
sciences or in the business of life. Be also vigilant and 
attentive to your other studies and let no branch of your 
education be neglected. The study of Latin is dry and un- 
interesting but it is very important in giving you a thorough 
knowledge of our own language, and the proper meaning and 
application of words derived from the Latin. And the Greek 
is also important in this respect although you may never 
have occasion to look into a Greek book after your education 
is finished. Recollect also that you may be placed in a 
situation where a knowledge of these dead languages may 
afford you the means of support and may even place you at 
the head of some of our most distinguished colleges or other 
seminaries of learning. Study mineralogy and botany for 
your amusement in your leisure hours to expand your mind 
and increase your store of general information, but learn 
writing, arithmetic, English grammar, Greek, Latin, French, 
composition and declamation, or the habit of public speaking, 
as the foundation and only sure means of making yourself 
great and respected and useful in after life. Write fre- 
quently to your mother and other members of the family 
as this will tend to improve your talent in composition; 
and be careful always to run over your letters after they are 
written to see that there are no grammatical errors, and if 
you find you have not expressed your ideas in the best lan- 
guage correct the letter and recopy it before it is sent. 

And before closing this letter, let me again remind you 
that all your hopes and prospects of wealth, honor and 
respectability in life depend on your own exertions alone. 
Although your father occupies a high and responsible station 
in society, that cannot make you respected unless you improve 
the advantages which you now have to cultivate your mind, 
and preserve those habits of honesty, sobriety and industry 
which alone can raise you to honor among your fellow citizens 
hereafter. By industry, study and perseverance you may 
reasonably hope for the most exalted situations, but without 
this you can be nothing. Finally look to God for his blessing 



14 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

in all your endeavors to acquire knowledge and may he keep 
and preserve you from every bad habit and evil way. 

Your affectionate father, 

R. H. Walworth. 
Master Clarence Augustus Walworth. 

P. S. Preserve my letters and all others of any importance 
which you receive from your friends and fold and tie them up 
together, as you may find it beneficial to refer to them here- 
after when, perhaps, death may have separated you from them 
forever. If there are any words in my letters you do not 
understand, look in the dictionary and find their meaning, 
so that you will fully comprehend what I intend to say. 



II. 

COLLEGE DAYS. 

In Prospect and In Retrospect — Old Time Culture at 
Williamstown and Albany. 

Some details to be liere set forth may at first 
seem disconnected or out of place. Furtlier investi- 
gation will show, however, that they belong in 
one w^ay or another to a continuous trend of 
thought. Xot one of them but throws its share of 
liffht on the training and motives of the character 
to be herein dwelt upon in many varying phases. 
Since interesting developments come later on, it may 
prove no loss of time to linger thoughtfully about 
the trickling sources of a great river; or, to study 
the soil wherein some sturdy acorn has been coaxed 
to shoot forth its latent energies, as well downward 
toward cool welling water as upward into blazing 
sunlight. 

The boy who received the two interesting letters 
addressed to Williamstown by Chancellor Walworth 
in the autumn of 1830 was living in the Sloan 
house. Later it w^as the home of three presidents 
of Williams College and it is now owned by a college 
society. It was the most beautiful mansion that 
could then be approached through the broad avenues 
and over the grassy lawns of that mountain-girt 
town. Even yet it dravrs the eye of the stranger 
with a charm all its own, as to a center of quaint 



16 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

elegance and good taste, standing as it does in the 
very midst of an ever-increasing cluster of costly 
university buildings. How wise they have been at 
Williams College whilst keeping abreast of the 
times to let no ancient beauty of architecture or 
landscape gardening escape them! How short- 
sighted were they at Albany to allow the students of 
a college society to carry over the state line to Berk- 
shire county the grand old manor house built for 
the Patroons of Rensselaerwyck ! To let it go from 
the bank of the Hudson for Williamstown vines to 
clamber over and caress ! There it stands on a well- 
kept lawn, with new mortar between its bricks, but 
every brick in place, its old contour intact. When 
it stood in the northern part of Albany, Father Wal- 
worth used often to pilot his friends from St. Mary's 
rectory through Steuben street and Broadway to 
visit it. 

'^ Historically, it is the most interesting building 
in Albany," he would say, " and a fine piece of 
architecture, as you see. When it passes from the 
hands of the Van Rensselaers, the city should own it 
as a museum." 

His taste in more ways than one was doubtless 
formed by early contact with the scholarly atmos- 
phere of Williams College. Hence, his speech 
on " School Education," before a great convoca- 
tion in the Albany Capitol, in July, 1887, when 
he received his degree of LL. D. from the Regents 
of the University of the State of N'ew York, begins 
thus: 

^' I would be something more or less than human 
did I not feel deeply honored in being invited to 



College Days 17 

address a body so dignified and learned as the 
Regents and scholars that compose this convocation. 
I feel that here I am breathing the atmosphere of a 
true university. According to my view, a uni- 
versity cannot be created by a mere charter, by any 
amount of money, nor in any short period of time. 
It is not some building with spreading wings and 
high towers; it is not a name; it is not a place; it 
it not a mere college, incorporated by law, with power 
to confer degrees; it is something more even than a 
union of colleges with different departments devoted 
each to special studies. It is a certain center of 
learning and thought, the healthy growth of many 
years, the child of many combining graces. It is a 
traditionary atmosphere, an influence, a breath, a 
soul, an inspiration that hovers about a locality 
where learned men have once lived, and thoughtful 
learners still love to gather. God grant a long life 
to the University of the State of !^ew York! And 
long may its yearly convocations assemble in this 
city !'' These words, together with the masterful yet 
winning presence of the speaker, sharpened the edge 
of interest to closest attention. All in the Senate 
chamber seemed to listen and applaud as one man, 
whether they had come from ^ew England or the 
Rocky Mountain States, from Virginia or Michigan ; 
or, on the limited " flyers " through the wheat zone 
and western plains from our younger giant cities 
whose new-fledged seats of learning are just flutter- 
ing into notice. Some, at least, of this audience 
must have been familiar with the unique campus of 
old Williams. How gently it is curved by the sub- 
siding rolls of the Green Mountains, while not yet 



18 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

dipping into the fair narrowing valley southward, 
across which Mount Greylock peers through the 
Hopper and over Berlin mountain far into ISTew 
York State. Have you who have read these pages 
ever delved in the library of that college, deciphered 
the professors' tombstones, and rested by the Hay^ 
stack monument in Mission Park? Have you won- 
dered at the quaint observatory, the first of many 
that crown American hilltops, now abandoned as 
outgrown, perched on the rocks, emptied of all its 
equipments, and worthless save to arouse thought? 
Have you recognized the names of her Alumni on 
the backs of library books and noticed not only the 
generous gifts of her prosperous sons, but the 
thoughtful faces of some of her courteous under- 
graduates ? Those, who blush not to work their way to 
classic honors, by humble and uncongenial tasks dur- 
ing the vacation time, while with laudable pride they 
show strangers their Alma Mater? If so, can you, 
thus knowing Williams, with all its whispering mem- 
ories, reflect for a moment on Father Walworth's de- 
scription of a university, and not read between the 
lines his vivid recollection of the spot where he first 
awoke to the life of a scholar ? '^' Surely his Avords 
fit it well, though he doubtless had no intention of 
excluding from his thought other seats of learn- 
ing both ancient and beautiful. I myself never saw 
him happier in sightseeing abroad than when ramb- 



* Our twentieth century, too, has its tributes to the older, 
eastern colleges. In the North American Review for October, 
1904, Mr. Wm, K. Harper wrote thus: "Who does not recog- 
nize the fact that it has been Harvard, and Yale, and Brown, 
and Amherst, and Williamsi, and a score of other names equally 
well known, that have given us in the west our ideals and 
our teachers? " 



College Days 19 

ling among the many colleges of Oxford University. 
He was not satisfied till he had persuaded the bell 
ringer to let him '^ bone the big Tom " with his 
own hands; and how the authors of old England 
seemed to walk the halls again, as he talked of them ! 
Once he took me to our own capital, the City of Wash- 
ington, and after noting the increase and magnifi- 
cence of the government buildings, he lingered longest 
of all at Georgetown University. That, too, like other 
early American foundations, having outgrown its 
equipment, a massive new building was in course of 
construction. I marvelled at his interest in every 
detail, as he talked with the Jesuit Father, who 
showed us the modern lecture halls and dormitories 
which were still littered with workmen's tools. I 
remember that he said as he stamped his foot on the 
heavy stonework: '^ That's the way to build; solid, 
and to last. Your colleges here have, already, a 
hundred years of history, and I see you are planning 
this present structure to stand the wear and tear of 
at least another hundred. With the Potomac on one 
side of you and that magnificent shady park on the 
other, so secluded, and yet so near to the halls of 
Congress, you are, indeed, well placed. Much that 
I see and hear at the present time points to a great 
future for Georgetown ; and, especially, for her Law 
School." 

Father Walworth's love of learning began early 
and never left him.* In his youth he drank deep and 
long from the wells of thought at several widely 
known universities. He was prepared for college 



* The greater part of his valuable library was bequeathed in a codicil 
to the Catholic University of America. 



20 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

partly at the Albany Boys' Academy, and partly, as 
we have seen, at the Sloan School, which, however, 
was discontinued soon after the year 1832.^ Wil- 
liamstown, unquestionably, was then and is still a 
very stronghold of Presbyterianism and certain al- 
lied forms of Evangelicalism. He afterward entered 
Union College at Schenectady, — a union of many de- 
nominations, — at the early age of fourteen years. 
He passed on to his graduation there in 1838. Dur- 
ing the next three years he was a law student at 
Canandaigua and Albany, in lawyers' offices, the 
Albany Law School not having as yet been founded. 
After an interval of law practice, he went to the 
General Seminary of the Episcopal Church in 'New 
York City, for another three years of deep lin- 
guistic and historic study. He gave close attention to 
exegetics, general book lore and advanced lecture 
courses in preparation for preaching. Even yet his 
thirst for knowledge was not slaked. Immediately 
afterward he applied himself for three years to the 
study of Roman Catholic Theology abroad ; one year, 
at St. Trond in Belgium, and the remaining two 
years in the College of Wittem or Wilre, in Holland, 
graduating there in 1848. Hobart College, in his 
native State, gave him his degree of Master of Arts. 
Among his many intellectual accomplishments ora- 
tory claimed the preserving devotion of Father 
Walworth, a devotion which spared no labor and 
counted no personal cost. He was familiar with 
the distinct literary qualifications of every famous 
statesman, pleader, lecturer, could describe the details 



* See HistoiT of Berkshire Couuty; J. B. Beers & Co.. New 
York, 1885; page 679. 



College Days 21 

of his elocutionary art, and shrewdly give many a 
cause of his success in speaking, not apparent to 
others. He went to see and hear such individuals 
whenever he could, to watch, to listen, and to come 
home the wiser. Thus he was ever looking forward 
to the preparation of his next speech, sermon, spir- 
itual conference or instruction. His study of his 
native tongue was no less thorough and persistent. 
Nothing, however remote, that could throw light on 
the meaning and use of English words was indif- 
ferent to him. From his point of view words were 
as the food, clothing, weapons, tools, vehicles and 
housing of human thought, and human thought at its 
hest ever reflects and echoes the mind of God. To 
make such reflections glow brighter and such echoes 
resound afar was his life work. 

His education in French and Latin seems from the 
first to have kept pace with his studies in English. 
Already at the Albany Academy he had learned to 
take down French dictation of easy sentences cor- 
rectly from one whom he considered an excellent 
master. His estimate of his Latin teachers up to the 
time of his junior year at Union may be gathered 
from the following words of his Convocation Address 
at the Albany Capitol, the opening paragraph of 
which has been already quoted : 

" I began the study of Latin at a very early age. 
^ow I am an earnest advocate of Latin as a founda- 
tion study for all who aspire to anything like a broad 
and advanced stage of learning. But I began it too 
early, and I began it with the grammar. ^^Tow all 
grammar is hard and Latin grammar is very hard to 
an English child. I found it so and so did all of mv 



22 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

class.'^ [Lew Benedict, Ambrose Cassidy, Francis 
Low, Jolin Pruyn, Charles Schoolcraft, John Ten 
Eyck, Franklin Townsend, Maunsell Van Rensselaer, 
Isaac Ver Planck and John Wilder were among his 
classmates during the year 1828 when he was eight 
years old. Another of his schoolmates was John 
Olcott] '^ But when we came to the rules of quan- 
tity,'' he continued, " when we were required to scan 
Latin verse, when we were called upon to name 
trochees, and spondees, and dactyls, when we Avere 
forced to say whether a confounded syllable was 
long or short, and whether so by position or author- 
ity, or for some other unintelligible reason, we felt 
that we were subjected to a persecution. Of course 
we were obliged to guess, and of course we generally 
blundered, and when we blundered we were called 
blockheads. Worse consequences sometimes followed 
and we stood ready to dodge. If our teacher had 
been able to read our thoughts, he would have heard 
something like poor Joe's protest against the 
preacher: ^ You just let me alone. I haven't done 
nothin' to you and I don't want you to do no thin' 
to me.' * * * 

" It is certain that, at our school, we learned little 
of Latin quantity, or the metre of Latin verse ; all 
that was required of us was to measure off the lines 
into sections of two or three syllables each, without 
making the slightest account of rhythm, or time or 
accent. This is the way we did it: ^Arma vi- 
Rumque ca-No Tro,' etc. 

" Some years afterward I found out, to my great 
astonishment and delight, and in one single hour, 
what I had failed to comprehend when drudging in 



College Days 23 

this academical tread-mill. I had for room-mate at 
Union College, during my junior year, Edward 
Tuckerman, of Boston, afterward professor at Am- 
herst. One day, while occupied with a <3opy of 
Horace, he suddenly exclaimed : ^ By George, Wal- 
worth, this is heautiful ! ' ^ What is beautiful ? ' said 
I. ' Why, this ode/ naming it : ^ the poetry is ex- 
quisite, and the very rhythm is delightful.' He then 
read it to me, as he had been taugbt to read Latin 
verse under happier influences than those which had 
blockaded my own young brain, not dividing the 
lines into clownish sprawls, but making them vibrate 
in rhythmic waves, without forgetting anything de- 
manded by quantity, or the sense of the words, or by 
poetic feeling thus: 

' Vides ut alta stet nive candidum 
Soracte, nee jam sustineant onus 
Silvae laborantes, Geluque 
Fhimina constiterint acuto.' 

As he read, not only the poetry, but the music of 
the measure, sank into my soul. ^ This is indeed 
beautiful,' said I, ' why I could dance to such time 
as that ! ' " 

The storm of applause that swept over the new 
Senate chamber showed how well the scholarly audi- 
ence appreciated the power and sweetness of Father 
Walworth's voice and action while the lines of 
Horace dropped in rich, mellow, bell-like tones from 
his tongue. 

Despite his sling at the academical tread-mill of 
early days, Clarence was grateful to Dr. Bullions, 
his Latin master, for equipping him with a complete 



24 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

mastery of grammar, syntax and construction, a 
solid foundation for higher classical studies. The 
youthful orators of the Albany Academy in his time 
were usually marclifd to the music of a band through 
the streets, and then up to the old brown capitol, that 
was surmounted by the once familiar statue of 
Justice, with the scales. There in the State's first 
Senate chamber, before judges of the Supreme 
Court, the boys contested for their gold medals. 

At Williamsto^vn, too, in those days the subject of 
oratory was not neglected. Dr. Griffin, himself a 
pulpit orator, ^^ a man of courtly manners from the 
City of Boston,'' presided over Williams whilst 
Clarence lived there close by West College in the 
Sloan Mansion. It has already been stated that 
three presidents made that house their official resi- 
dence. They were Presidents Mark Hopkins, Paul 
A. Chadbourne and Franklin Carter. Whilst it was 
still used as a preparatory school, the Sloan family 
and that of Judge ^N^oble had the honor seats, or 
front pews, in the broad aisle of the Second Meeting 
House (built in 1797). In or near that point of 
vantage. Chancellor Walworth's son sat through Dr. 
Griffin's long and soul-stirring sermons, at least 
every third Sunday. At such times Mr. Gridley, the 
local pastor, went to officiate at South Williamstown. 
It was considered a great privilege to listen to the 
reverend founder of Griffin Hall, who was known 
far and wide as '^ the prince of preachers." * 
William Hyde, a graduate of 1826, and the son of 



♦ See " Williamstown and Williams College," by A. L. Perry; 
p. 494. 



College Days 25 

a Vice-President of Williams, has given quite a full 
account of liis style, thus: 

'^ Dr. Griffin preached with great power in the 
church, in the chapel and in schoolhouses packed 
full. The whole town was moved, as was the col- 
lege. Many were converted who have been promi- 
nent in the University and as missionaries. I never 
heard such powerful presentation of truth. His 
style would now he called artificial. It was studied, 
elaborate, finished, not at all adapted to these days. 
I heard the sermon on the ' Worth of the Soul ' 
three times while in college, and the ^ Flood Sermon,' 
as many. His majestic presence and his studied 
modulations and gestures could not be printed. The 
relations of the college and town were always 
friendly. The students were as gallant to the ladies 
as now, and as many found life partners. What 
changes in fifty years I "^ -^ ^ ' Do you make 
better men,' he asks, ' than when it cost self-denial 
to work through college ? ' " 

William Hyde had already described in the same 
paper * how Professor Dewey who had a small 
wooden building for chemistry, apart from East and 
West College, drew his illustrations and worked his 
problems with chalk on the floor of the recitation 
room, when lecturing on natural philosophy and as- 
tronomy. Professor Kellogg had an open Franklin 
stove in his room in West College. That was luxury 
in those days. William Cullen Bryant, ^^ on the 
third floor, close by the door of entrance to the 
dormitory room jSTo. 11," had only an open fire- 



* See *' Williamstown and Willams College." 



26 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

place, as had the students generally. The chapel had 
one stove but no fire in it when they went to prayers 
at 6 o'clock on cold winter mornings, and there they 
waited and shivered whilst the Scriptures were read 
by the light of tallow candles. Wood was two dollars 
a cord. The students bought it, cut it themselves and 
carried it to their rooms. This was exercise and 
amusement. There were no baseball or boating 
clubs, but they kicked football. Pipes and tobacco 
were common. '' I gave them up in the revival of 
my senior year," wrote William Hyde, " and have 
not resumed their use.'' That year was 1826. 

These revivals were a notable feature of life at 
Williams and occurred also at Union during Clarence 
Walworth's college course. At the close of 1825 only 
four students at the former college remained uncon- 
verted. Seventy were hopefully pious, and eleven 
absent. A new chapel, now Griffin Hall, was built 
in 1828. Ebenezer Emmons succeeded Professor 
Dewey a year earlier. He was the professor of 
mathematics and natural philosophy until 1836 and 
as one of the deacons at WilliamstoT\Ti was on that 
account also a familiar figure to Clarence, who later 
treasured on his bookshelves some cumbrous volumes 
of Emmons' Geological Survey of 'New York State. 

There were relapses between the revivals, when 
intemperance, card playing and malicious mischief 
went on, such as the stealing and defacing of a 
Bible and even setting the college afire. In 1830 
" twenty professors of religion had given up their 
hopes." So another revival was preached in 1832. 
That of 1826 has been well described from a stu- 
dent's point of view by Albert Hopkins, then a 



College Days 27 

junior at Williams. It may stand as a type ; lience 
his account of it, in an abridged form, is given. The 
names of the revivalists on this occasion are not re- 
corded. In 1825 they had been the Rev. Alvan 
Hyde, of Lee, and Rev. David Dudley Eield, Sr., of 
Stockbridge, " two country ministers,'^ who came up 
to Williamstown to visit, pray and exhort. Mr. Field 
was a Yale man, if not a city man. Whosoever the 
preachers might be, it was the custom of the fervid 
pastor of the church, Mr. Gridley, to set apart, as a 
fast day, the day of their visitation. The faculty 
suspended literary exercises for the time, to afford 
liberty for prayer and conference. According to 
Albert Hopkins' account, a meeting was appointed at 
the college for the morning hours in the senior reci- 
tation room, which was warmed as usual by a wood 
fire in a box stove. But few of the students were 
serious. Many of them were very bold sinners, and 
came in whirling their hats across the room as if in 
derision. After all were assembled, a marked still- 
ness settled down upon them. Tutors Harvey and 
Mark Hopkins, former classmates and wai'ni personal 
friends, both of whom had entered upon a decided 
religious life, directed this meeting. After some 
moments of silence a student, notoriously profane, 
arose with a deep solemnity of countenance. Said 
he, ^^ Will you trifle wdth your souls ? " Every 
head was bowed, the most hardened were melted and 
the meeting became a scene of indescribable interest. 
In the afternoon there was a meeting at the church. 
For two or three days it was impossible to study. 
There was a prayer-meeting going on in each college 
building from morning to night, in some room or 



28 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

other. All turned to the Bible. The majority " ob- 
tained hopes " nearly at the same time, and others 
not many days after. 

At the spring term, there was a renewal of the 
same scenes. The work went on, with more or less 
power, until the warm season opened ; and a sermon 
was preached at the close of the term, as had been 
done in 1812. At this time, there was an Anti- 
Slavery society at Williams, and a College Temper- 
ance society was organized as early as 1827. 

After the revivals Mark Hopkins continued to 
hold noon prayer meetings. His Alma Mater became 
known later as ^' The Missionary College.'' In 1829 
Albert Hopkins, to w^hom we are indebted for the 
above record of early college events, taught to the 
students at Williamstown '' The Doctrine of Perfec- 
tion," as it was held at Oberlin. 

Some of these facts may seem aside from our sub- 
ject, but let it be considered that they must have be- 
come frequent subjects of conversation in and 
around the Sloan Mansion, the temporary home of 
Clarence, where, to use an expression of those days, 
'^ Little pitchers had big ears." 

Is it likely either that the religious dispositions 
of Dr. Griffin's good daughter, Ellen, were uncom- 
mented upon at local firesides ? She was converted 
to the point of answering his question, ^ Do you think 
you deserve hell ? ' by the meek words : '^ O, I know 
I do ! " Surely she was compassionated by the gayer 
and more fashionable ladies of handsome Major 
Douglas Sloan's household. He and his sisters were 
looked upon as the rural aristocrats of the town. He 
was then the only resident graduate of Williams who 



College Days 29 

had the further advantage of a three years' course at 
the famous Law School in Litchfield, Conn. 
His law ofiice was ^' on the eastern edge of the pres- 
ent Kappa Alpha lot, nearly opposite the old Man- 
sion House." Professor Perry records these details 
in his work entitled '^ Williamstown and Williams 
College.'' On page 44, his account of Douglas Sloan 
and his household continues thus : '' He had a hoys' 
school in the Sloan house after his mother's death, 
and the late Dr. Alonzo Clark was principal of it for 
a time after his graduation from college in '28, and 
I^Telson E. Spencer of '32 was an assistant, and after- 
ward engaged to he married to the Major's third 
daughter, Harriet Douglas, who, however, died at 
eighteen years of age. Besides law practice, not 
large, the Major had Merino sheep and was likewise 
engaged in several agricultural ventures. These led 
'eventually to the loss of his property." Before 
Clarence was fourteen, Major Sloan had disposed of 
his Williamstown home, and " removed to I^ew Al- 
bany, Indiana, where he died in 1839, aged 35. 
His wife was Miss Cogswell, stepdaughter to Ebe- 
nezer Fitch, first principal of the free school and 
first president of the college in Williamstown." She 
was the kindly lady trusted by Chancellor Walworth 
to be as a mother to his son whilst he was at board- 
ing school. She had -Q-ve sisters-in-law. 

" Tradition had it, that in the muddy walking and 
crossing of the springi:ime (there were no good side- 
walks in those days as at present) General Sloan 
would send out his hired man with two long boards 
for the girls to walk on, laying down one in front 
while thev were walking; on the other in the rear." 



30 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

Whetlier the sidewalks were any better during 
Clarence's stay there we are not told, but they still 
sell very heavy mountain rubbers in the Williams- 
town shoe store, which are useful early and late even 
in midsummer on account of the heavy mountain 
dews that soak all the grass of the valley. Bryant 
describes its s|)ring weather in these lines : 

" Now tempests drench with copious flood, 
Alternate heat and cold surprise. 
A frozen desert now it lies. 
And now, a sea of mud." 

It was during the bitter wintry blasts of a holiday 
time that Clarence traveled in a sleigh with his tutor 
down through long reaches of the Hoosac Valley to- 
ward his Albany home, and nearly perished with 
cold. He gave his amanuensis a graphic description 
of it, full threescore years after it occurred. The 
young man, alarmed at the condition of his pupil, 
took all the buffalo robes, stripping them from his 
own knees, and rolled up the benumbed boy like an 
Eskimo. Then at the next inn laying aside his tem- 
perance proclivities through stress of necessity, he 
gave his young charge a larger dose of liquor than 
he had ever before swallowed. He let him sleep it 
oif in the sleigh till his eyes opened in happy sur- 
prise on the skaters of the Hudson. They were the 
same boys with whom Clarence had practiced swim- 
ming and diving the previous summer. 

And now our turn has come to travel westward 
from Willi amstown ; not in the frost of winter, but 
in the mellow harvest time. In our case it is over 
the glittering rails of the Hoosac Tunnel road that 



College Days 31 

we glide onward, and in a luxurious twentieth cen- 
tury railway train. The Perry Elm, that marks the 
site of Fort Massachusetts with its thrilling frontier 
history of French and Indian War times, is left be- 
hind ; so, too, the patriotic memories of Bennington ; 
and, the old Hoosac cemetery where Benjamin Wal- 
worth rests undisturbed by shock of battle, harvest- 
time, or roar of his mill by the falls. It is more 
than likely, as Professor Perry surmises, that when 
French explorers from the north first caught sight of 
the letter T or cross made by the junction of the 
Wallomsac and Hoosac rivers, they exclaimed '' La 
Sainte Croix ! '' And so that name clings yet to the 
locality. Travel speedily as we may, Greylock, loom- 
ing up between the Hoosac and Berlin Mountain 
ridges still dominates our thoughts as it must needs 
dwell in those of all who look upon it. It sang 
songs to Bryant till " Thanatopsis " rolled majestic- 
ally from his pen. It beguiled David Dudley Field, 
Jr., from the law to poetry. His suggestive lines 
addressed to " Greylock " will fittingly close this ac- 
count of the Williamstown episode of Father Wal- 
worth's career. We may be pardoned for repeating 
them here. Thev will lead our thoughts where the 
old Massachusetts mountain may have led his, in 
dreamy boyhood days : 

" Thy summit, Greylock, gives the straining eye 
Visions of beauty o'er that glorious land 
That lies around thee; Valleys broad and green 
Teeming with corn and flocks, and men's abodes; 
And countless hills; and the far mountain ridge. 
Whose roots strike deeper than the ocean's depth, 



32 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

And whose blue line, traced on the distant sky, 

Hangs like edges of a watery cloud; 

The old and shadowy woods; the slumbering lakes, 

Bright in the summer noon; the thousand streams. 

Binding the earth with silver; villages 

Scattered among the hills; and frequent spires. 

Greeting the sunlight. 

But thyselfj vast pile 

Of congregated mountains, whose tall peaks 

Where the clouds gather and the eagles build, 

And the strange pine puts forth, stand ever there, 

Like the old pillars of the firmament. 

Thyself hast more than beauty; and thy dark 

And yet untrod defiles^ whence comes no sound. 

But from the screaming bird and murmuring tree, 

And thy deep chasms, where falls the avalanche, 

And the white torrents pour, have an intense 

And dread sublimity, too great for words. 

For, ever since the world began, thy eye, 

Grey-headed mount, hath been upon these hills. 

Piercing the sky, with all thy sea of woods 

Swelling around thee, evermore, thou art, 

Unto our weaker, earthly sense, the type 

Of the Eternal, changeless and alone." 



III. 

COLLEGE DAYS AT " OLD UNION." 

Dr. Nott and His Stove — A Revivalist — Letter to a 

Classmate. 

When Clarence Walworth was domesticated as a 
student at Union College, Schenectady, Byron had 
become to this far western world the poet of the 
hour. Deep, rolling collars were in vogue, especially 
if the locks were curly. Whole stanzas of Childe 
Harold were conned in the intervals between college 
pranks and more serious study. A portrait of Clar- 
ence the student, taken at that time, indicates at 
least, what a Buffalo cousin asserts, that she had 
never seen one more beautiful to behold than he was 
when a young man. In this portrait he wears a 
Delta Phi pin. Before leaving college he became, 
also, an active member of its chief literary fra- 
ternity, the Phi Beta Kappa, and later greatly ap- 
preciated the comradeship this last mentioned affilia- 
tion gave him, as it brought him in touch with a 
high type of scholars from other universities.. This 
was especially so on a horseback journey he took one 
summer vacation. He traveled in this way all 
through !N^ew England. His father thought he had 
bent too much over his books for the good of his 
eyes and physique. Hence he gave him a horse, and 
told him to keep on horseback during daylight hours, 
except at meal times, for a good three months. This 



34 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

he did. He carried with him a single change of 
clothing. He met with many a friend and relative. 
He had no end of adventures, but never a serious 
mishap. 

Clarence was an enthusiastic member of his col- 
lege glee club. He took his turn with the rest sere- 
nading the ladies, as was a custom of the time. 

He could, as an alumnus, lustily applaud these 
words of Hon. T. C. Saxton, LL. D. in 1891 : 

" Think for a moment what ' Old Union ' stands 
for in the history of the American people. For 
nearly a century she has been a center of sweetness 
and light from which have emanated those influences 
that have made their life larger and richer. In her 
classrooms were planted the seed that developed into 
the best thought, ripest wisdom and noblest action of 
the state and nation." 

Chancellor Walworth was a trustee of Union Col- 
lege, and became President of the Law Department 
of the same university at Albany. His own law 
course he had mapped out for himself, prone on a 
leather lounge in a lawyer's office, reading far into 
the night. This had not prevented Eeuben H. Wal- 
worth from receiving the honorary degree of doctor 
of laws from the College of 'New Jersey in 1835; 
from Yale in 1839; and from Harvard in 1848. 
Rev. Dr. Eliphalet N^ott, an alumnus of Brown Uni- 
versity, presided over Union College during the four 
years that Clarence studied there and for many years 
after. His memory was honored not long since by 
a centennial celebration at Schenectady. It com- 
memorated his installation as president of the college 
just a hundred years before. It was held on Septem- 



College Days at " Old Union." 35 

ber 29, 1904. A tablet ^Yas unveiled at that time 
in Memorial Hall, inscribed thus : 

'' This building stands as a memorial of Eliphalet 
Nott, President of Union College from 1804 to 
1866, one of America's greatest educators — a man 
of genius, of persuasive eloquence and of rare per- 
sonal power." 

Dr. Xott's greatest sermon was the one inspired 
by the tragic death of Alexander Hamilton. It was 
delivered in the First Presbyterian Church at Al- 
bany. His words on that occasion crystallized into 
effectiveness the growing sentiment against duelling. 
He built up Union till, in 1825, its roll was longer 
than that of either Harvard or Yale. In 1838 Clar- 
ence Walworth graduated in a class of a hundred and 
twenty-six men. An anthracite coal stove was one of 
the many inventions patented under Dr. Pott's 
name. It wall thus be seen that he was a practical 
as well as a scholarly man. It was said of him by 
Hon. J. S. Landon at the centennial : ^' He filled 
'his mind w^ith wisdom rather than learning and 
wrought out in his own brain more than the text- 
books could teach. * * * JJe read the character 
of his boy« as if it were an open book. He 
ruled them by distilling the sense of honor and 
duty." In these words there is certainly a great 
tribute to him as an educator. After formal speeches 
of the celebration, a limch was served in the State 
Armory, hospitably prepared under the direction of 
Miss Mary Backus, assisted by thirty Schenectady 
ladies. This was followed by a feast of humorous 
reminiscences, college songs and class and Union 
yells. The Schenectady Gazette of September 30, 



36 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

1904, records the following allusion to old time col- 
lege pranks, similar in kind to those of Union boys 
who grew to be " seventy-years young " about the 
same time as Oliver Wendell Homes: 

" H. B. Silliman, '46, the donor of Silliman Hall, 
was the first alumnus called upon to speak. In the 
course of his talk, he referred to the ^ aesthetic 
value of the !N'ott stove;" and told a humorous in- 
cident of the days when part of the students roomed 
in West College, on the site of the present Union 
School building. He remembered how the sight of 
one of these stoves at the head of the stairs and all 
ready to be hurled upon their heads caused a bunch 
of ^ townies,' who had been engaged in a fight with 
the students and had chased them to the college build- 
ing, to be ' converted,' in the original meaning of the 
word, to turn around and depart unceremoniously." 
This well-told incident let loose a quick succession of 
jocose recollections of old time encounters. Some of 
the exuberant vitality that formerly expended itself 
in the above manner, finds a twentieth century vent 
in football and gymnasium practice, followed by vo- 
ciferous intercollegiate contests. Swift means of 
travel tend to annihilate distance as a barrier. Get- 
ting together from different colleges, in other days, 
meant horseback journeys, canal boat speed, frozen 
ears and danger from drifts on long sleigh rides. 
Hence, more fun and mischief with "townies ;" 
abundant opportunity for muscular contests with all 
grades of the local community; and perhaps in con- 
sequence, some deeper realization of the meaning of 
a Scottish poet whose volume was a frequent fireside 
companion of Clarence Walworth. The song of 



College Days at '' Old Union." 37 

Honest Poverty therein eliimed harmoniously with 
ideas of republican simplicity very dear to American 
hearts : 

" What tho' on hamely fare we dine. 

Wear hodden gray, and a' that; 
Gie fools their silk, and knaves their wine, 

A man's a man for a' that. 
For a' that and a' that, 

Their tinsel show and a' that; 
The honest man though e'er sae poor. 

Is king o' men, for a' that." 

May we never forget these words of Burns, but con 
them more and more, as tidal waves of European 
class distinction hitherto unfelt come rolling over 
the golden sands of our law-abiding democracy. Hovv^ 
fast these uncanny waves chase each other westward 
following in its course '^ the star of empire ! " The 
above verses were branded early into his soul to- 
gether with the words of his family motto: ''Strike 
for the Laws," and, thus combined, they proved char- 
acter builders for Father Walwortli. It can easily 
be imagined what great interest was taken during his 
college days in the newly constructed railway for 
steam cars; especially when it is remembered that 
the one from xllbany to Schenectady was the first 
ever built, and for a long time the only one in the 
whole world. It ran on a level over the sand flats 
from the State Capitol till it came to the dip down 
into the Mohawk Valley to reach Schenectady. It 
was not thought possible then for passenger cars to 
move safely by steam up and down hill. So a long 
inclined plane was constructed and the cars were 



38 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

drawn up and let down by a system of ropes or 
cables, in a clumsy, but novel and wonderful way. 

Some facts in regard to tbe purchasing power of 
^^ money '' in tbose days may be gathered from the 
following reminiscence furnished to the Schenectady 
Gazette of September 29, 1904, by a venerable alum- 
nus of 1832, Judge John L. Kanouse of Boonton, 
Morris Co., IST. J. His words there given are as 
follows : 

'^ I remember what the expense of college educa- 
tion at Union was in the years 1830, 1831 and 1832. 
The cost of board was $1.25 at the north boarding 
hall and $1.50 at the south boarding hall per week. 
The greatest expense was for tuition, $18.50 per 
term, and for repairs and damages 62% cents per 
term; the whole amount for tuition was therefore 
$57.87%. The living at the boarding halls was en- 
tirely satisfactory. * * *, Gold mines had not 
been discovered yet." 

Among Father Walworth's papers is a pamphlet, 
with marks in his own handwriting, being a Report 
rendered by President Eliphalet ^ott Potter in 
1882, to the Governor of :N'ew York State, the Trus- 
tees and others interested in Union College. It shows 
that he read it carefully over, and when he came to 
the word ^^ evangelical,'' in the following sentence, 
he underscored it: 

" Union College is Christian, and its religious po- 
sition is that of the evangelical catholicity of our 
Divine Master's prayer for unity." 

Again, he marked these sentences of President 
Potter, underscoring where italics are here used: 

" The Revolutionary struggles in which our an- 



College Days at ^' Old Union." • 39 

cestors proved their devotion to civil liberty revived 
their love of religious liberty. The descendants of 
the defenders of Leyden, of the heroes of Scotch 
Protestantism, of the martyrs of the English Refor- 
mation, as well as the men of honored Puritan an- 
cestry, felt then for a time the glow of a kindred 
enthusiasm. Some have held that these who laid in 
Christian faith and for Christian unity, the founda- 
tions of this the first College incorporated by tie 
Regents, ' huilded better than they knew/ " 

Here, the venerable alumnus who had long since 
became a Catholic priest has added a marginal note 
of his own, which says, spicily : ^^ It is only on this 
theory that Catholics can feel at home in Union 
College." Later, when asked to give the benediction 
on Commencement Day, he made the largest sign of 
the Cross his long arm could form over the assembled 
throng. The names of his fellow-graduates whom he 
had occasion to mention most frequently in later 
years were these: Daniel W. Alvord, William 
Henry Burr, John H. Beach, and last, but not least, 
Charles TT. Torrey. Three of these were lawyers. 
Alvord named a son for him; with Burr he had a 
controversy; Beach was a Saratoga boy, who shared 
with him many youthful pleasures such as fishing, 
swimming and skating at Loughberry Lake, at Bar- 
hydts' (now Spencer Trask's) and at " Ben Put's 
Pond." (Thus did they briefly dub the lakelet be- 
longing to a relative of General Israel Putnam, 
known later as Denton's Vlie, and included within 
the bounds of Hilton's Park.) The classmate of 
whom he spoke with most affection was Charles Tor- 
rey, who became a clergyman and moved to Ohio. 



40 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

The controversy with Burr was carried on in the 
pages of an infidel journal, The Investigator; 
and was published later in a small volume, entitled 
" The Doctrine of Hell," issue in 1873, but 
now out of print. It was a lively journalistic debate, 
that went on to a courteous finish after an exchange 
of some heavy artillery shots, neither one having con- 
vinced the other by his arguments. Two of its open- 
ing letters are so pertinent to this chapter that it 
seems suitable to reproduce them here as its con- 
elusion : 

William Henry Burr, Esq. — To the Rev. Clarence A. Wal- 
worth. 

Dear Sir — Seeing your letter in the Boston Investigator 
of March 27, declaring your acceptance of the recent papal 
dogma of the Infallibility, I am prompted to address you a 
brief enquiry. 

You and I were members of the same class at College. 
Just before graduating, we were both " converted " under the 
revivalist Elder Jacob Knapp. That we were both " soundly 
converted " I presume you do not doubt any more than I. 
Elder Knapp was fond of referring to yours as a remarkable 
conversion. But in the course of ten years, you had become 
a Catholic and I a Free-thinker. How I now regard my con- 
version under the revivalist, you can easily surmise; how you 
regard yours, I cannot. I shall, therefore, be pleased to re- 
ceive from you an answer to the following questions: 

Did you, at the time of your supposed conversion, " get 
religion? " In other words, Did you, at that moment, escape 
the "wrath to come" and secure your post-mortem salvation? 
Or was it all a delusion? If you did not get religion then, 
will you be kind enough to tell me when and how you got it? 

Respectfully, 

WM. HENRY BURR. 

Washington, D. C. Mar. 28, 1872. 



College Days at " Old Union." 41 

Clarence A. Walworth — To Wm. Henry Burr, Esq. 

Dear Sir : — I feel no hesitation in replying to the com- 
munication which you have addressed to me through the col- 
umns of the Investigator, and trust that my answer may 
prove satisfactory. 

The expression employed by you of " getting religion " and 
" securing a post-mortem salvation " are objectionable phrases 
and I cannot well use them without more explanation than 
seems to be at present desirable. Setting them aside therefore, 
I will endeavor to give a plain answer to the substantial 
meaning of your enquiry as I understand it. I do not of 
course propose to argue the issues which lie between a 
Catholic's belief and an infidel's unbelief. Your communica- 
tion evinces no further desire than to institute a comparison 
between our past and present convictions. 

The " conversion " you speak of, which took place as you 
remind me, when we were classmates at college, and listened 
to the preaching of Elder Knapp the revivalist, is to me no 
" delusion." I look back to it with pleasure, and hail it as 
a happy reality. That many delusions existed in my mind 
at that time is certain enough. But equally certain am I 
that a real, substantial, and lasting impression was made 
upon me which changed the whole current of my life. You 
ask whether I " secured my salvation " at that time. I con- 
sider no man's salvation secv/red except by perseverance until 
the end — finis coronat opus. The question touches some- 
what upon those sacred privacies which do not belong to the 
public. This much, however, I may say — ■ had death come 
then, I know of no good reason why I should not have met 
it with such hope of mercy as becomes a Christian penitent. 

The ground which you have broken makes it necessary to 
speak of myself, but I confine what I have yet to say to my 
intellectual life as a believer in the Christian revelation. 
That time which you have recalled was the turning point of 
a life. Not that my faith began then, but that then I began 
to prize and cultivate what I had. Since then whatever else 
you may say of it, my life has been one of sincere and un- 
wavering belief. That revolution in my faith which your 
enquiry searches for — that revolution when I abandoned 



42 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the religious convictions of my earlier life — never took place. 
This may seem strange to you, remembering that, having been 
reared by Presbyterians, I afterwards became an Episcopalian, 
and am now a Catholic. But I declare to you that I have 
never abandoned a single point of religious belief which I ever 
had. (I say of religious belief, by which I mean positive doc- 
trine, for a negative doctrine is not the matter of belief: it is 
merely protesting against some positive tenet of faith — 
merely a refusal to believe.) I have cast away many preju- 
dices of former days; I have accepted many things which I 
once did not believe; and thus the horizon of my faith has 
been enlarged. This transition of mind is never painful, 
for it is only following the natural law of growth. But I 
have never yet felt the shock of a lost faith. * * * How 
is it with you, my old classmate? When Elder Knapp knew 
us, you had a faith, I infer; and that faith probably covered 
as much ground then as mine. Now you say you are a Free- 
thinker. This cannot mean that you are free to think and 
say what you believe to be true; for in this sense I am as free 
in my thoughts as you. You mean, I suppose, that you will 
accept no external authority as guide in matters of religion. 
This freedom would be embarrassing in every other science, 
and lead to ignorant presumption. May it not be the same 
in that deepest of all sciences which looks further than sight 
and sound can reach? Practically, I take it, you reject the 
whole Christian faith and all revealed religion. The result 
of your thinking in this direction has not been to build up 
anything, but to destroy. I pity you. 

It may sometimes be a necessity to tear down and destroy. 
But to me it is always a sad thing. I would rather plant a 
new tree than uproot an old one. It is a mournful thing to 
see lying prostrate on the ground a noble trunk which many 
busy hands in nature, working long and patiently, have con- 
spired to uprear, which has braved so many winters, bloomed 
so many summers, and sheltered and adorned the soil where 
it grew. More keenly still we feel the ruin, when, the stump 
being removed, we see how deeply the roots were fastened in 
the ground, how closely they clung to it, and how the bosom 
of the earth was rent in the parting. Is it not so with a 



College Days at ^' Old Uniois^.'^ 4;3 

religious conviction in the soul? Can an old faith, the growth 
of years, be uprooted there without causing pain, without 
leaving desolation? Once you believed in God as a living, 
loving, personal Being, who created you — in no idle mood 
to forget you afterwards, but — to cherish you as a Father. 
You believed that wondrous history of Bethlehem and Cal- 
vary which shows us so dear to God, and brings Him so near 
to us. These convictions had grown up with the growth of 
your faculties, and, like a plantation of trees, had thrust 
down their roots, and spread out their branches, and become 
a part of your life. Can such a growth be removed without 
laceration of heart, without leaving behind it a desolation? 
And what have you now to fill the void? 

You reply, I suppose, that the work, however painful, was 
necessary ; that these things were superstitious errors, and, 
for truth's sake, ought to be eradicated. I have no occasion 
to argue that now and here; but from my soul I pity you. 
And I congratulate myself that the love of tru^th in me has 
never called for such destruction. 

And in you, my dear sir, may it not have been a sad mis- 
take ? May it not be that some great and holy truths of Reve- 
lation taught to you have suffered in the teaching, have been 
coupled with errors, been colored by prejudice, been pressed 
out of shape to suit some harsh^ false system — aye, been 
stripped of their flesh and blood by rash reformers, and thus 
deprived in great part, of life and beauty? It may be that 
the Old Church, if you would let her tell her own story in 
her own way, and have the patience to hear her through, 
would yet find sparks enough, amid the ashes of your early 
faith, to kindle a new fire and substitute light for darkness 
and desolation. I subscribe myself with much interest. 

Your sincere friend, 

CLARENCE A. WALWORTH. 



IV. 
LAW OR THEOLOGY? 

An Up- State New Yorker Starts for the Metropolis. 

Clarence Avas only eighteen years old when he 
graduated from Union College and the choice of a 
professional career lay before him. 

The correspondence with his classmate, William 
Henry Burr, shows how far the paths of the two 
eventually diverged in religious matters. The same 
thing in an aggravated form is doubtless going on 
yet. Some student can be pointed out at Williams 
or Union or Harvard who has already, even in his 
teens, thrust aside, as a worn-out theme, the idea that 
man possesses any actual revelation of God's truth; 
one who turns with all the ardor of his youth to 
explore the wonders of modern scientific discoveries, 
swallowing whole along with them the half-baked 
cosmic theories of his favorite physical science hero. 

Alongside of him sits a student from some dif- 
ferent early environment, whose whole heart is al- 
ready gathered up into one purpose, to equip him- 
self by every means in his power, to adorn himself 
with all he can get of the new learning, for the 
great battle of human intellects which is still going 
on. Michael, leading his angels, strikes in on one 
side; and on the other the powers of darkness are 
marshalled, as of old, by Satan. Quis ut Deus? 
" Who is like unto God ? " will still be the motto of 



Law or Theology? 45 

the earnest Christian youth, deep carven in his heart 
of hearts, as he stands by his laboratory table, all 
newly equipped by some loyal millionaire alumnus ; 
and, again, whilst he takes notes from a professor 
whose whole line of argument is chosen to throw dis- 
credit on the divine faith that has hitherto thrilled 
him with its satisfying beauty. Will this young 
man's Credo continue to leap from his soul till, with 
countless satellites about him, he shall shine as do 
^^ those who instruct many unto justice," like a 
star in the firmament ? God only knows. One thing 
is sure. When the pet hypothesis of his unbelieving 
Professor is as old-fashioned in terms as Elder 
Knapp's special theological phraseology he will have 
scant gratitude from students to whom he has 
pointed out many of nature's newer lessons with 
never a good word for her old ones. These were 
familiar long since to the friends of melancholy 
Jaques; and, at every turn meet eyes not pinned to 
microscopes, not overspectacled by a material civili- 
zation into forgetfulness of humanity's best hope. 
Under the open sky such hope buds brightest, and 
there is ever finds " books in the running brooks," 
and "good in everything." Shakespeare in these 
words but echoes old Genesis, where it says, " God 
saw all the things that he had made, and they were 
very good." 

Alas, that man should still mar the beautiful order 
of the universe by becoming " more wise than it be- 
hooveth to be wise," and thus lose his Eden! 

In the gymnasium of Columbia University, at the 
celebration of its one hundred and fiftieth birthday 
as a seat of learning, an Episcopalian Bishop, 



46 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

Rt. Rev. William C. Doane, of Albany, the same 
who addressed the citizens gathered to honor Father 
Walworth's memory six months after his death, is re- 
ported in the Argus of October 31, 1904, to have 
spoken thus : 

^' I wish that the men and women to whom the 
education of children and young people is entrusted 
could realize the essential necessity of personal ex- 
ample and personal influence, the duty of construc- 
tive and not of destructive teaching about God and 
life and eternity, the wrong of offering to the un- 
trained spiritual functions of children the undigested 
masses of their own crude and raw notions and imag- 
inings. And I recognize with thankfulness the 
spirit which pervaded the first prospectus of the 
founder of King's College, who vtRS the father of the 
first president of Columbia. ^ The chief thing that 
we may do in this college is to teach and engage the 
children to know God in Jesus Christ and to love 
and serve him in all sobriety.' " 

A trumpet call this, — though given at the elev- 
enth hour, — to return to the educational principles 
of George Washingi:on and the early patriots of 
America, which have never been departed from by 
the '' Old Church," to which Father Walworth gave 
the allegiance of his whole mature manhood 1 

Since the Regents from whom he received his de- 
gree of LL. D. are so closely identified with the 
early history of " Columbia," it seems not amiss here 
to quote again from the same journal that recorded 
Bishop Doane's words already given. Let it tell 
us more of the concourse he addressed : 



Law or Theology ? ^ 47 

Columbia's Big Celebeatiox. 
Its Climax Centered in tlie 

University Convocation. 
Exercises in Commemoration 
of the One Hundred and Fif- 
tieth Anniversary 
of King's College. 

New York, Oct. 31. — Two thousand alumni were present to- 
day at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the found- 
ing of old King's College, now Columbia University. All the 
fraternity buildings were gaily decorated with the college 
and national colors. 

The forenoon exercises consisted of the laying of the corner 
stones of Livingston Hall, Hartley Hall, the School of Mines 
and of St. Paul's Chapel, and the dedication of the Physical 
Training Building, Teachers' College. 

The climax in to-day's celebration centred in the university 
convocation, in the afternoon. Twenty-three honorary de- 
grees of doctor of laws and ten honorary degrees of doctor of 
science were conferred upon prominent alumni of the univer- 
sity. Unique in this ceremony was the fact that none other 
than Columbia graduates participated or officiated in the 
exercises. 

At 3 o'clock the academic procession was marshalled at the 
library and wended its way across the quadrangle to the 
gymnasium, where the members occupied the honor seats. 
Those in the procession wore black gowns and mortar-boards, 
with the exception of holders of honorary degrees, who wore 
hoods signifying their rank. Many of the hoods denoted hon- 
orary degrees from European universities. Members of Barn- 
ard College faculty, also in cap and gown, marched in the 
procession. The exercises began at 3 : 30 o'clock. Besides 
many invited guests the entire student body of the university 
and Barnard College was present. The oration in commemora- 
tion of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversity of the founda- 
tion of King's College, the sesqui-centennial, was delivered by 
President Butler. 



48 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

After the honorary degrees had been conferred, President 
Butler announced that the trustees had established eleven 
memorial professorships in the university on the occasion of 
the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. 

With such wealth of educational opportunities 
now at hand it is hard to realize how few and far 
hetween were the law schools when Clarence A. 
Walworth began his study of law in the autumn suc- 
ceeding his graduation at Union College. It will 
be remembered that his father's family had again 
become residents of Saratoga Springs, occupying 
the homestead there throughout the year. As a law 
student he resided at Canandaigua and afterward 
at Albany. Whilst at the former place he was in 
the office of Hubbel & Howell. At the latter he 
boarded with Mr. Werner and other young students 
in a Chapel street house. By a strange coincidence 
it was directly opposite the front door of a residence 
that became later the rectory of St. Mary's Church, 
in which he dwelt over thirty years, and from which 
he passed through the portals of death to his eternal 
reward. That old boarding-house was next door to 
the comer of Steuben street, and was demolished 
about the beginning of the twentieth century to 
make room for the rear extension of the '^ D. & H." 
R. E-. Company's offices. He hurried back and 
forth from his meals there to the office of Stevens & 
C agger, where his education in the theory and prac- 
tice of law went hand in hand. The Albany Law 
School had yet no existence, and his Blackstone was 
dropped at intervals for office duty. On Sundays 
he attended church at St. Paul's, where in 1839 he 
received confirmation at the hands of Bishop Onder- 




CLARENCE WALWORTH, STUDENT. 



Law or Theology? 49 

donk. Dr. Kip, afterward Bishop of California, 
was then rector of the church. Clarence Walworth 
became a singer in his choir and superintendent of 
the Sunday school. It was merely an accidental cir- 
cumstance that had first led him to an Episcopal 
church. At Canandaigua he had but to cross the 
street to enter one, whose organist was a fellow 
lodger. With him he soon began to attend service 
there and, being fond of vocal music, joined its 
choir. 

Clarence received his license to practice as an at- 
torney in the Supreme Court of the State of I^ew 
York from Chief Justice Samuel Nelson July 16, 
1841, as the original parchment testifies. He was 
admitted as a solicitor and counselor in the Court 
of Chancery and licensed to practice as such by his 
father, Chancellor Eeuben Hyde Walworth, on July 
21, 1841. 

After this he was at Saratoga for a time, enjoying 
the companionship of his relatives, entertaining a 
college friend there now and again, and obtaining 
some practice of his profession in his father's court- 
room, then in the north wing of the old home. It 
was approached by three little steps from the front 
hall, just inside the main entrance. In cool weather 
sparks of a roaring wood fire danced over the and- 
irons, and snapped against the brass-topped fender. 
Every inch of wall space was lined with leather- 
bound volumes, whose tops were protected from dust 
and ashes by long, narrow strips of green baize. A 
desk for the chancellor had its water pitcher and 
tumbler on top as inevitably as the fireplace had its 
poker, handy for his instantaneous use. A long table 



50 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

on whicJa the lawyers could spread their papers 
and some strong, quaint chairs with a swinging 
writing-board attached completed the simple equip- 
ment of this rural court-room. But many a famous 
man, from Daniel Webster down, had his say there, 
and vast were the interests involved in its disputes. 

One day the large-eyed, merry-faced young lawyer 
who darted in and out, with no deeper thoughts just 
then than to hurry through with the business in hand 
and get off on a sleigh ride, or to singing school 
with the boys and girls who were up to fun, was ac- 
costed unexpectedly by a magnate of the business 
world just as he left his father's office. He was 
buttonholed and reminded of a cause then pending; 
that he, as the chancellor's son, would have op- 
portunities to bring it to his father's attention that 
some other lawyer might not get ; that he hoped he 
would do what he could for him, together with more 
vague words and shrewd glances, at which the rosy 
cheeks of the young man grew redder and redder, 
though his lips were still sealed with amazement. 
All at once the surprise was on the other side, as the 
older man hastily drew back toward his immacu- 
late shirt-bosom the $2,000 he was gradually edg- 
ing toward Clarence's h'and, with the figures in 
plain sight. 

'^You dirty dog! You blackhearted rascal! 
What do you take me for ? " exclaimed Clarence, 

The torrent of indignant invective that burst forth 
and flowed oil in unchecked fury from the young 
man at this outrage to his sense of honor and the 
respect due to his father's judicial integrity can be 
better imagined than described. The magnate beat 



Law or Theology? 51 

a liasty retreat from the premises, and ever after 
avoided encounters with the comely young orator. 
He has long lain in an unhonored grave and his 
name is no longer of consequence. There was no 
third party to witness the incident and it might 
never have heen told had not the writer once asked 
Father Walworth, when old and nearly blind, why 
so much was brought out in the papers about brib- 
ery. Why was it allowed to go on in the lobbies 
of the Capitol when those who were guilty of it 
could be so severely punished by law ? '' But they 
have a way of doing it without coming under the 
letter of the law," said he. His mind was already 
turned toward the recollections of youth, and he 
sought for an illustration to make clear his mean- 
ing. Thereupon a graphic word-picture of this in- 
cident that occurred just beyond the swing of his 
father's door came from his lips as we two sat by 
the drop-light as usual in his sitting-room. I held 
the evening paper and he had an ear-tube in his 
hand. His elbow rested on the arm of his chair. 
His eyes had lost some of their swift, kindling light. 
A black velvet skull cap rested on his snow-white 
locks. But the expressive lips curved again into 
lines of unutterable scorn as the unpleasant memory 
dawned upon him. How he loathed the sort of vil- 
lainy that would thus tempt a young man at the 
threshold of his career ; that could lie in wait spider- 
like to trap him, in his natural eagerness for the 
means of enjoyment ! It is at such moments in one's 
life, surely, that the right kind of training counts, 
as well as the guardianship of one's good angel. 
Almost daily for the fifty years of his priesthood, 



52 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the man who had been thus approached found it his 
duty to utter these words of Psalm 25, appointed 
for the washing of the fingers during the Holv 
Mass : 

^' In whose hands are iniquities, their right hand 
is filled with bribes ; but as for me, I have walked in 
my innocence, redeem me, and be merciful unto me. 
My foot hath stood in the right way : In the churches 
1 will bless thee, O Lord.'' 

He surely had reason to understand the full mean- 
ing of this grateful chant of King David. He made 
it a custom for many years of his pastorate in the 
city of Albany to devote the sermon of the Sunday 
preceding the Is^ovember elections to an explanation 
of the duties of citizenship. The immorality of brib- 
ery received its due share of attention; warnings 
were given suitable to the time; and all, in terms 
so plain and clear and simple that no political cam- 
paign worker, or newly naturalized American voter, 
or even the most illiterate of his listeners, could sin 
against his civic duty through ignorance. 

At Canandaigua, his legal friends had introduced 
him into a delightful social circle. He seems to 
have prospered in every way at that charming place, 
except that he was ultimately overtaken by a sud- 
den illness. This illness proved an occasion for 
jnany new and serious thoughts. It has already 
been mentioned that he was early initiated into the 
duties of a volunteer fireman. On one occasion he 
was exposed in such a manner at a fire as to be taken 
down with a violent cold, sore throat and fever. 
His face was as scarlet as his fireman's shirt. A 
young doctor was called in, who promptly pro- 



Law or Theology? 53 

noimced it scarlet fever, and proceeded to bleed him 
and reduce him to a state of extreme weakness. A 
college friend who sought him out became thor- 
oughly alarmed at his condition, began to have mis- 
givings as to the treatment, and whispered to Clar- 
ence that he would like to call in a well-known 
physician. Receiving an acquiescent nod, he ar- 
ranged for a consultation. In his old age the whilom 
patient set a room full of friends in roars of laugh- 
ter, detailing in his own inimitable way the conver- 
sation between the wise old doctor and the tyro, 
which, without offense to the latter, resulted in a 
direct and immediate reversal of the whole treat- 
ment. The quick ears that caught it and the re- 
tentive memory that recorded it were no less evi- 
denced in the telling of the anecdote than a keen 
and humorous appreciation of all the ins and outs 
of professional etiquette as understood in the prac- 
tice of medicine. He closed the story with a warm 
expression of gratitude to the older doctor, who had, 
in his own and his comrade's estimation, rescued 
him from the brink of an untimely grave. Whether 
this comrade was his beloved classmate, Charles 
Torrey, or some other, he certainly served him a 
good turn. 

The years following the completion of his law 
course have been already largely dwelt upon in two 
books written, or rather dictated to his amanuensis, 
by Father Walworth himself; i. e., A Life of Bishop 
Wadhams and The Oxford Movement in America."^ 



* The title page of the first reads thus: 

" Reminiscences of Edgar P. Wadhams, First Bishop of Ogdens- 
burg. By Rev. C. A. Walworth, author of * The Gentle Skeptic,' 
' Andiatorocte, and other poems,' etc. — With a Preface by Rt. 



54 Life Sketches of Father Waewokth. 

This present series of sketclies is intended to sup- 
plement rather than to encroach upon the auto- 
biographical parts of both these volumes. Some 
slight interlapping of records is necessary to pre- 
serve, herein, a certain thread of continuity. This, 
it is hoped, will be kindly pardoned by those already 
familiar with the above-mentioned works. Others, 
who first make acquaintance with our subject 
through the gatew^ay of these later planned pages, 
may look upon the titles just given as signboards, 
indicating pleasant pathways that gently diverge 
from our own. 

On the first page of " The Oxford Movement in 
America '' are these words : 

" In the summer of 1842 I was a practicing 
lawyer in Rochester, E^. Y., being the junior mem- 
ber of the firm of Chapin & Walworth. Our office 
was in a second story front room of the Smith block, 
so called, in Main street, and directly facing the 
principal hotel in the city. We were doing a good 
business and I liked my profession well enough. 
About that time, however, my mind had been turned 



Rev. H. Gabriels, D. D. Bishop of Ogdensburg. — New York, Cin- 
cinnati. Chicago: Benziger Brothers, Printers to the Holy Apos- 
tolic See. — 1893." 

Any profits resulting from the sale of this work go 
by the gift of the author through their bishop to the Catholic 
Indians of the Ogdensburg diocese. It contains besides his own 
memories, a very interesting correspondence of Edgar Wadhams 
with a group of Americans who became converts to the Catholic 
Church, as well as with their Episcopalian friends who did not 
" go over to Rome " on the early waves of Tractarianism. 

The second book of Reminiscences is quite a distinct work from 
the first. It followed after it, however, in serial form through the 
pages of the Catholic World Magazine of the Paulist Fathers, 
and at their publishing house it was stereotyped. Its title page 
reads thus: 

" The Oxford Movement in America: or Glimpses of Life in 
an Anglican Seminary. By Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, St. Mary's 
Church, Albany, N. Y. — New York: The Catholic Book Exchange, 
120 West 60th street." 



Law ok Theology? 55 

toward religion more steadfastly than ever before. 
I felt growing up within me a strong desire to de^ 
vote myself entirely to the church. I opened my 
mind on this subject to the Rev. Dr. Whitehouse, 
then rector of St. Luke's, and afterward Bishop of 
Illinois. I was a member of St. Luke's choir and a 
teacher in the Sunday school, and was strongly at- 
tached to the rector. He encouraged me to follow 
my inclination, as bein^ both rational and deeply 
settled, and wrote a letter for me as a candidate for 
orders in his diocese. 

" E^either mv father nor anv of my friends made 
any serious opposition to my purpose, and it was car- 
ried into speedy execution. My father's personal 
library of law books, a large and fine collection, was 
sent home to him forthwith, and when I parted with 
these very little of law remained with me. I my- 
self returned to the family residence at Saratoga 
Springs to wait for the opening of the next term 
of the General Theological Seminary in 'New York 
city." 

During this summer he went with his father, at 
the latter's request, to the Annual Convention of the 
American Board of Foreign Missions and attended 
all its sessions. It so happened that the standing 
committee of the board on this occasion made a pub- 
lic report to the meeting in which they reccmmended 
the employment of unmarried men in foreign mis- 
sionary labor, giving some very practical and sensi- 
ble reasons. This recommendation raised a storm 
of opposition and was finally voted down. But its 
effect was not lost on the mind of the young gentle- 
man in the assemblage just twenty-two years of age, 



56 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

who had recently become an Episcopalian. He 
sided entirely with the reporting committee, and 
reasoned the matter out further for himself. If 
celibacy was practically necessary to the most suc- 
cessful missionary work, why not important also to 
all laborers in the Christian ministry? 

The opening of the next fall term found him in 
the east building of the General Theological Semi- 
nary of the Protestant Episcopal Church at Twen- 
tieth street, IvTew York. On page ^Ye of " The Ox- 
ford Movement in America," he says : " The insti- 
tution to which I was now attached was of a much 
higher order, both in the character of its professors 
and the scholarly habits of its students, than any 
other that I knew of.'' Bishop Onderdonk, of IsTew 
York, a very high churchman in favor of the Ox- 
ford movement, was its president. His favorite lec- 
ture topic was Apostolical Succession. Dr. Samuel 
H. Turner was dean of the faculty. Among the 
professors were Drs. Wilson, Ogilby and Haight. 
The Hebrew language was taught to Clarence Wal- 
worth by Dr. Clement C. Moore, the same who wrote 
the verses beginning, " Twas the night before Christ- 
mas." His beautiful home, embowered in trees, 
was just across the street from the seminary, with 
its happy household basking in the sunshine of his 
own genial nature. It was a home with a broad roof 
and ample chimneys, easy of access to good old 
Santa Claus and kindred spirits. 

The new student went at the study of the oldest 
of written languages with zest. He found it useful 
more than once in clearing up his ideas for preach- 
ing. I remember preparing brief notes at his dicta- 



Law OB Teeology? 57 

tion for one of his last sermons at St. Marv's, Al- 
bany. It was not his custom to take such notes to 
the pulpit even when his eyesight had permitted him 
to read and write for himself, but rather to leave the 
sheet with its large, clear headings under a paper 
weight on his table, to glance at now and again as 
sermon time approached. This time his text was 
from Isaias, through the lips of Jesus Christ, as re- 
corded in the Gospel to be read on that particular 
Sunday by order of our good Mother the Church. I 
had dug out for him as best I could with my imper- 
fect Latin and halting French, Calumet's comments 
on it, in both the Old and the 'New Testaments. He 
used an editio pnnceps of that author in twenty- 
four quarto volumes with four besides of the diction- 
ary of the Bible in uniform binding. " Is that all 
there is about it ? '' he persisted. 

" Well, yes,'' said I, hesitating. 

" Look again," said he. 

^^ I have read vou everv word I can find that 
seems to have anything to do with the text," I re- 
plied. ^' But wait ; here's a tiny number that goes 
with a brief foot note." 

'' Bead it." 

'' I can't." 

" Why not ? " 

"It's*^ Greek." 

'' Spell it." 

I put on my thinking cap and drawled out the 
unfamiliar alphabetic signs. A Heidelburgh alum- 
nus had taken me through a first Greek book to- 
gether with a brother of mine who was preparing 
for college. He then suddenly dropped off tutoring 



58 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

to set up an academy for boys, which, cut short my 
course, never to be resumed. Just then, I thanked 
him mentally for coming over to America with the 
good taste to select my native village as a starting 
point in which to try his fortunes. My uncle's 
face brightened with delight, as he caught and 
uttered syllable after syllable, till the words rolled 
glibly from his tongue. 

^' Yes ; yes ; I knew there was another interpre- 
tation. If I could think of the Hebrew word I 
want — I would have the whole thing." 

^^ I rather think it is here," said I, " in the last 
foot note. But I can't spell it, and you can't see it. 
It is a short word and has angles instead of curves. 
It wouldn't be as pretty on a silk table cover as the 
Sultan's monogram." Here he interrupted me. 

'^ You can draw it, can't you ? Take my large 
pad and make each character three inches long and 
very black. Ink it heavily." 

I made a facsimile large enough for a tavern sign, 
drew up the window shade to the top, gave him his 
eyeshade and spectacles, and, after a moment of 
silent expectation, old Isaias' word rang out with a 
vim. 

K^ext day I heard the sermon. It was in the 
clearest, simplest English, with never a hint of his 
linguistic study of the text, though luminous with 
high and holy thought. In it was radiance of 
hope and majesty of warning. The people hung 
upon his words, and the poetry of Isaias seemed to 
have found its way even into the organ pipes. 
IN^ever were grander strains evoked therefrom by 
the skillful fingers of Professor Carmody. He was 



Law or Theology? 59 

always a conscientious musician of classic taste, and 
most iiajDpy of all in his original accompaniment 
to our best known Christmas carol, '' The Snow Lay 
on the Ground." This organist seemed ever to catch 
something of exhilarating resonance from Father 
Walworth's preaching. Attracted to St. Mary's 
Church in his later life, rather by the pastor's per- 
sonalty than the salary, which was not large for one 
of his attainments, he was certainly successful in 
making its organ echo and prolong the best inspira- 
tions of its great pulpit orator. 

The training that Clarence Walworth received 
at the General Theological Seminary doubtless had 
its share in rounding out his natural talent for pub- 
lic speaking, as well as broadening his culture. A 
strong desire ^' to be all things to all men that he 
might win all to Christ " had carried him to that 
well-equipped seat of learning, calling him aside 
from rare opportunities at the haw Henceforth 
he would plead for nothing less than human souls, 
not only in his own whispered prayer to the court 
of Heaven, but at the bar of man's reason, con- 
science and faith ; therefore, every winsome art that 
could aid his plea was most perseveringly culti- 
vated. 

Already he had persuaded his father that no 
earthly ambition of honor, wealth or happiness 
should be allowed to stand in the wav of such a call 
as his. He had reminded him of his daily peti- 
tion at family prayers for the missionaries in pagan 
lands, and of contributions he gave for that pur- 
pose. Was it not a noble sacrifice they made of 
home and countrv? And if his o^vn son chose to 



60 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

work for God and souls instead of for things tliat 
Solomon calls '' vanity," he surely would not deter 
him. ^^nd thus he won a generous, unselfish eon- 
sent. Clarence's mother was an exceedingly de- 
vout Presbyterian and practical in self-sacrifice. I 
have heard him tell that she loved costly furniture. 
Her husband, after a successful suit, gave her an 
ample sum with which to satisfy her taste to the ut- 
most. She had seen just what she wanted. But 
the thought of a needy family came in between her 
wish and its gratification. Some substantial pieces 
were purchased of a less price than those first chosen, 
and a large part of the gift was spent in food and 
clothing for the poor. 

When Clarence exchanged law for theology the 
weight of her influence went readily to his side of 
the queotion on general principles, though misgivings 
of high churchmen and papists came in later. The 
chancellor, good American husband and father that 
he was, gainsaid them not but supplied by his own 
unremitting labors the means which paid Clarence's 
way through the seminary. However disappointed 
in his ambition that his oldest son should follow in 
his own footsteps, he kept his feelings to himself. It 
had not been long since in his thoughtful care for 
his family he had provided the wherewithal to 
supply things needful for the weddings of his three 
daughters, and their suitable equipment for married 
life. Besides this expense his young son Mansfield 
was just preparing to enter college. In yielding as 
he did to Clarence's wishes at this time, Chancellor 
Walworth certainly showed a real spirit of gener- 
osity and self-sacrifice. His daughter Maiy had 



Law or Theology? 6i 

married Mr. Edgar Jenkins. They were dwelling in 
ISTew York city with their young children. Among 
them was James Graham Jenkins, who was destined 
to win laurels for himself as a citizen of Milwaukee, 
and to supply Gresham's judicial district when the 
latter entered President Cleveland's cabinet. The 
youngest sister of Clarence, and his special playmate 
in childhood, was Eliza, who married Rev. Jonathan 
Trumbull Backus and resided in Schenectady. 
Their eldest son. Rev. Clarence Walworth Backus, 
volunteered for the war of the Rebellion in his 
youth, acting on the staff of General M. D. Hardin, 
with soldierly zeal, and became later a well-known 
Presbyterian clergyman of Kansas City, Kan. 
Sarah Walworth chose for her life partner Mr. John 
Mason Davison of Saratoga Springs, 'N. Y. Just at 
this time, however, he was Register of the Court of 
Chancery, and dwelt at Albany, in a house fronting 
on Hawk street whose site is directly in the center 
of the majestic modem Capitol of the Empire State. 
There Clarence, as a vouna; lawver, saw lier bend 
tenderly over the cradle of her first born son. Mason, 
who became later an alumnus of Williams College 
and a mineralogist, residing at Rochester, [N". Y. 
From that same house Clarence led his mother to 
the Saratoga train for a last and sad farewell, but 
of that more hereafter. 

Some one has said that it was the library of early 
Christian fathers of the church to which he had ac- 
cess at the Chelsea Seminary which made a Roman 
Catholic of Chancellor Walworth's oldest son. As a 
matter of fact that was simply one of many causes, 
to be dwelt upon shortly. 



62 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

His mental and spiritual faculties, unconsciously 
to himself, were hourly unfolding to the light, like 
petals of a great water lily, little by little ; first the 
heavy dark ones, then innumerable white ones, until 
a time came when he found himself fully awake to 
the broad daylight of Catholic truth, showing at 
heart a golden wealth of faith. For a while, he was 
alone, the first one of a group of Tractarian compan- 
ions, who were slower to greet the dawn. 

One letter of his written after he had passed a 
single winter at the seminary is extant. It shows 
among other things that he received a visit from his 
mother. She in the natural order of things, as we 
may safely infer, had been drawn into a little more 
shopping while in the metropolis than accorded 
voth her original calculations. This letter must 
have convinced the father who received it that there 
was little or no likelihood of a recoil, come what 
might, from his son's choice of theology in place of 
law. It was addressed under seal in the old- 
fashioned way; no envelope; and, reads as follows: 

Clarence, to the " Hon. Reuben H. Walworth, Chancellor, &c., 

Albany.'" 

" New Yoek, May 4, 1843. 

Dear Father — I drew upon the Bank of the State of New 
York, the other day, trusting to my memory for the amount 
I thought I had remaining in deposit, without referring to 
my bank-book. Was agreeably surprised to-day by receiving 
an invitation to call and deposit $10 — overdrawn. I shall 
be obliged for the present to send my regrets. Mother when 
here wanting some money, I volunteered what I had left in 
the bank, a part of which it appears was only imaginary 



Law ok Theology? 63 

treasure. When you left New York you gave me $30 and a 
draft for $70 which you supposed to be your share in a divi- 
dend of 314 P^r cent, on the stock. The president informed 
me when I presented it, that the dividend declared was only 
3 per cent., so that I received only $60. I believe I have not 
mentioned this before, as I should have done, to prevent your 
making any false entry. I have $3 in my pocket which will 
last me until you come down, I think, if you will please en- 
close me $10 to square a/c with the bank. I have endeavored 
to be rigidly economical, and have been so. I regret exceed- 
ingly that after having done so much for me I am still de- 
pendent upon you, nor would I be content to remain so, if 
my interests only were in question, and not those of our com- 
mon Saviour. But I do not look upon myself as having any 
interests on earth to advance. I am hired soul and body to 
the service of Him from whom I ask nothing on this side the 
grave, but His love. If in another world He shall please to 
give me a voice and a harp and that '' new song " and a place 
near enough to see Him, I am content. Do not then consider 
yourself to be discharging the obligations of a Father, but 
as educating a poor student (who happens to be your grate- 
ful son) for the ministry of Christ. God grant that you may 
hereafter hear His voice saying, " Come thou blessed of my 
Father, inherit thy kingdom, for I was poor and sick, and 
thou didst clothe and educate and minister unto me, enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord: for inasmuch as thou hast 
done thus to the least of my servants thou didst it unto me." 
I hear much said of your ill health, but I do not venture to 
advise a^ou to labor less, as others say you ought to do, be- 
cause I know that while you sympathize with the poor, the 
widow and the orphan, whose bread may depend upon your 
decisions, it would be impertinent for me to suppose that 
you were ignorant of your duty to yourself. 

Your affectionate son, 

C. WALWORTH. 



V. 
LEAD KINDLY LIGHT. 

Newman, Carey, Wadhams, and McMaster — Good- 
bye to Mother — Piatt and Whitcher — Letters to 
His Father. 

The friendship that gave rise to Father AVal- 
worth's '^ Reminiscences of Edgar P. Wadhams/' 
was as strong as an ocean cable and as sweet as it 
was true. It lasted half a century; that is to say, 
from the time those two distant cousins first met 
as fellow students at the Chelsea Seminary in Twen- 
tieth street till the latter died at his post as Bishop 
of Ogdenshurg in northern !N^ew York. It was not 
long after that sad event that the white haired sur- 
vivor received an unexpected call in his Albany 
home. A yellow packet of letters was laid in his 
palm, by a reverent messenger; one who knelt kiss- 
ing the hand held out to receive them just as if 
the greeting were intended for a king, a high-priest 
or a saint. To the recipient they came as voices of a 
forgotten past. One by one they were unfolded and 
read to him, proving to be his own and his com- 
rade's letters of seminary days. They were sent to 
him by one of the grey nuns, Sister Stanislaus, she 
who had soothed his friend's deathbed with the 
deathless touch of Christian charity. Three sets of 
Eieminiscences resulted from the reading over of 
those old letters. It was his first series that gave the 



Lead Kii^dly Light. 65 

life of Bishop Wadliams. In its fourth chapter, the 
author thus turns over the leaves of a soul history: 
^'Only converts who have passed through the deep 
waters in which Wadhams was now struggling know 
how clouds of darkness gather ahout the soul at times, 
and make it participate in some measure in that deso- 
lation which caused the Lord Christ on His Cross to 
cry out : ^ My God, my God, why hast Thou for- 
saken me ? ' I know of one who once, in a moment 
of desolation of this kind, which came in the middle 
of the night, could only find relief by rising from 
his bed, and on his bare knees protesting that, if God 
would only show him what to do, he would do it, let 
the cost be what it might. ' Surel.y,' he said, ' God 
cannot damn me while I say this, and mean it.' 
Those who have passed through similar trials are 
best able to understand the deep meaning which 
lies in those words of Cardinal Newman, now so fa- 
miliar to the public : 

^ Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling 
gloom, 
Lead thou me on.' 

Of course in these cases, when a young Churchman 
is thought to be in danger of going over to Rome, 
friends are not wanting who are ready to offer sym- 
pathy, such as it is, and there are spiritual doctors 
among them to prescribe infallible remedies. These 
remedies generally consist in urging the patient to 
do precisely w^hat his conscience will not let him 
do. They succeed in curing only those whose con- 
sciences are not thoroughly aroused, or who are weak 
in the knees. These various remedies are in sub- 



66 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

stance reducible to three or four — such, for in- 
stance, as : ^ Take advice,' ' Take orders,' ' Take a 
parish,' ' Take a wife.' " 

These words cover his own case too well to be 
omitted here. In fact this whole book throws light 
on its author's life and mental trend as well as on 
that of his friend. But we must be content with a 
few glimpses and summaries of Father Walworth's 
remarkable seminary experience, to leave room in 
this volume for hitherto unpublished letters. One 
such summary occurs in the above quoted chap- 
ter, just after the text of a certain letter of advice 
received by his friend Wadhams. In it was ex- 
pressed the idea that he would act differently from 
Walworth who sought guidance " from prayer 
alone." Wadhams was advised, when troubled with 
doubts, to consult with '^ respected brethren and 
fathers in the church." This same Walworth then 
adds his own comment, thus: (Page 97.) 

" To urge either Wadhams or myself, or Mc- 
Master, McVickar, Whitcher, Piatt, Donnelly, or 
many others who might be named in the same cate- 
gory, to take advice from living ^ pillars ' of the 
Episcopal Church was simply nonsense. What had 
we been doing during our seminary course but study- 
ing the very questions on which we were asked to 
seek light ? The necessity of ordination to consti- 
tute a priest, the apostolical succession, and the va- 
lidity of Anglican orders, the nature and character- 
istic notes of a church, the essential doctrines and 
sacraments necessary to constitute and furnish the 
true Christian Church — these were the very sub- 
jects which we had studied most anxiously, in class 



Lead Kindly Light. 67 

and out of class, with the aid of all the eminent 
^ pillars ' which Anglicanism could afford. The 
longer we studied, and the deeper our application to 
these questions, the more we felt the want of founda- 
tion beneath our feet; and what other foundation 
could these wonderful ' pillars ' have, and why should 
we risk our salvation on their dictaminaf Among 
Anglican clergymen there were not a few that we 
knew well and respected much as gentlemen, and 
scholars, and as sincere Christians ; but how could 
they be ' pillars ' of the church to us, or add anything 
to our security ? To take advice of such as they in 
our position did not mean humility nor docility, nor 
that prudence which comes from Heaven. It meant to 
dose our consciences with morphine, committing our- 
selves to men who w^ere already committed." 

What was it that had given these young men so 
keen an interest in the subjects enumerated ? It was 
undoubtedly first aw^akened by the examination of 
their fellow-student, Arthur Carey, by eight clergy- 
men on ^' the thirty-nine articles '' in the Book of 
Common Prayer ; his masterly defense of the position 
taken by the Tractarians at Oxford ; his youth, boyish 
lovableuess, intense and earnest spirituality; his un- 
questioned learning; the arg-umentative skill with 
which he repulsed the onslaughts of two anti-Roman- 
izers, Drs. Smith and Anthon, to the amusement 
of his friend, Dr. Seabury, editor of The Church- 
man, and professor at Chelsea. These heavy 
weights of Protestant orthodoxy made at him with 
all the fury of a "^ C oeur-de-Lionf' and he met their 
war of words with clear-cut thought and keen-edged 
arguments that were handled as skillfully as Sal- 



68 Life Sketches of Father Waewoeth. 

adin handled his rapier. He won the day, and was 
passed on to ordination, as sound in the faith. The 
eventful hour came for the ceremony on a Sunday 
morning, July 2, 1843, at St. Stephen's Church, 
l^ew York. Clarence Walworth and his father were 
there in a pew, and among the young men who were 
to be made deacons that same day was Edgar 
Wadhams. Bishop Onderdonk presided. The cere- 
mony went on till made the usual call to show 
cause, if any existed, why the candidate, or any of 
the candidates, should not be ordained. Here, to 
the astonishment of all. Dr. Smith, of St. Peter's, 
in full canonicals, arose in the middle of the 
church and made a protest, in solemn language, 
against the ordination of Arthur Carey. Rev. Dr. 
Anthon did the same. They charged him w^ith be- 
ing unfaithful to the doctrines of his own church 
and imbued with the errors of Rome. The Bishop 
arose, with an indignant and majestic mien, pre- 
sented to the people his reasons for his course, giv- 
ing them some facts about the previous trial, and 
concluded his remarks as follows : '' Therefore, I 
shall proceed to ordain all these candidates, notwith- 
standing the scandalous interruption of these Rev- 
erend Protesters." He then recommended them to 
the prayers of the congregation, and Bishop Ives 
began the reading of the litany. The two who pro- 
tested took up their hats and walked down the 
middle aisle to the front door. All others remained 
till the ceremonies were concluded. 

Clarence Walworth wrote thus of the moment suc- 
ceeding this interruption. " The sensation that fol- 
lowed was something fearful, though the silence was 



Lead Kindly Light. 69 

profound. My father, who sat heside me, trembled 
from head to foot, and turned to me with a look of 
awe and wonder which I can never forget." It is 
not surprising that he was bewildered by this strange 
proceeding. It was better understood by Clarence. 
He himself had already become a Tractarian. Mc- 
Master, who studied with him at Union, had made 
him acquainted with the Summa of St. Thomas 
Aquinas, which lay open in his seminary room and, 
talked eagerly of the early Church fathers. Wad- 
hams knew much of John Henry ^ew^man and his 
follow^ers at Oxford, through his intimacy with 
Carey, who presided over a debating society among 
the students. They all read discussions of Tract 
No. 90 ; and Ward's ^' Ideal of a Christian Church " 
found its way to their hands. Carey and Walworth 
had rooms opening into the same hall and nearly op- 
posite. The latter wrote thus of their intercourse :* 
'^ One evening, I was sitting alone in my room 
when Carey entered. I was unoccupied. I could 
not read evenings, for my sight had begun to fail — 
a trouble which, dating from that time, has followed 
me with variations during my w^hole life. Carey 
expressed his sympathy at the condition of my sight, 
and asked if I would not like to have him read to 
me. I accepted his offer eagerly. He took up a 
copy of the New Testament which lay upon my 
table and commenced reading from the Gospel of St. 
John, opening at the fourteenth chapter and reading 
through to the end. 



* See "Oxford Movement In America," page 10; also, Chapters 
III and IV, for a fuller account of this interesting disciple of New- 
man. This book contains the second series of Father Walworth's 
Reminiscences. For his third series, see " Catholic World Maga- 
zine," June, 1899, to January, 1900, inclusive. 



70 Life Sketches of Fathek Walworth. 

'' I had never before then appreciated so fully the 
solemn beauty of the Holy Scriptures. Carey was 
an admirable reader, keeping midway between a 
tedious monotony and all extravagance of expression. 
His voice was low and sweet, and had a quietness d 
suppressed feeling in its tones which was mag- 
netic. He made no comments on anything he 
read, but let the sacred page tell its own story. I 
never read those chapters now, particularly the three 
containing our Lord's discourse after the Last Sup- 
per, but my thoughts go back to that memorable 
evening, and I see Carey's kindly face before me 
and his hair glowing like gold in the lamplight. 
His influence over me was at once established, and 
I thank God for it still.'' These words were writ- 
ten in the last decade of the nineteenth century. 
In another place Carey is mentioned as having been 
the Aloysius of the Seminary. In the autumn of 
1843, soon after his ordination Arthur Carey was 
engaged as Dr. Seabury's assistant and was lodging 
at 101 Charlton street, near the Church of the Amm- 
ciation. From there he wrote a long letter to Wad- 
hams who was in Essex county, whilst Mc^Iaster 
sat beside him reading snatches from the British 
Critic, which gave them the Oxford news. " Carey 
died," says Walworth, '^ at the close of the following 
winter on his way to Cuba, and was buried in the 
ocean. Wadhams and I were in company when the 
intelligence of his death came, and we mourned for 
him as men mourn for a brother.'' He and Wad- 
hams and Henry McYickar were then engaged in a 
rather romantic attempt to found an Episcopalian 
monasterv in the Adirondacks, in imitation of the 



Lead Kindly Light. 71 

JSTashotah Mission in Wisconsin. It was to be 
called St. Mary's. Wadhams owned the land. Mc- 
Vickar furnished money for books, such as a brev- 
iary and Lives of the Saints, and also for tools and 
cooking utensils, whilst Walworth experimented as 
cook and carpenter. He studied carefully mean- 
while the life of St. Bernard, and thought over what 
he had read in Moehler's '' Symbolism/' v^hich he 
purchased. They were very much in earnest, fasting 
severely through Lent according to an original plan 
of their own, and taking upon themselves the nursing 
of a smallpox case that frightened the villagers near 
them, besides catechising the children in rural 
chapels. Walworth's zeal in this respect never 
flagged.* Wadhams being a deacon usually conducted 
the services. He also preached and baptised very 
faithfully throughout his Essex County Mission. 
But the monastery scheme was too visionary. Wal- 
worth decided whilst there " to cross over to Rome." 
He and Wadhams had visited Montreal together, and 
seen a bit of Catholic life there, which was about all 
they knew of it, except what they learned through 
the writings of John Henry Newman, William 
George Ward, and such works of the early Fathers 
as were to be found in the Seminary library. Wal- 
worth wrote to Bishop DeLancey, of western ^ew 
York, asking him to take his name off from his list 
of candidates for orders. This letter crossed on its way 
one from the Bishop directing Walworth to come to 
him at Geneva for ordination. Instead, he planned 



* When a student in New York city, Walworth was super- 
intendent of an East Side Sunday School, which, being at a dis- 
tance from Chelsea, gave him the opportunity of a long walk. 



72 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

with MoMaster, who just then came up to the l^orth 
Woods on a visit, to apply to the Reclemptorist 
Fathers in Third street, Kew York, whom the latter 
happened to know, in order to be admitted into the 
Catholic Church. Once possessed of their address 
Walworth went on ahead, leaving McMaster to fol- 
low shortly after. The following note was left on 
Wadhams' table as a last farewell. He did not be- 
come a Catholic till a year later. They had parted 
at the Ticonderoga steamboat landing as Wadhams 
was going oif on a short round of duty; and they 
did not meet again for six long years: 

Your Study, May 5, 1845. 

Dear Wadhams — In a few minutes I shall be gone — and 
oh, as I lean my breast against your stand, how wildly some- 
thing beats within! It seems as if I were about to separate 
from everything I love, and my poor heart, faithless and un- 
conscientious, wants to be left behind among the Protestants. 
I am not manly enough to make a stout Catholic; but it is a 
great privilege to be a weak one. Well, do not forget me. 
Indeed you cannot — you have been such a good, kind, elder 
brother to me, you would not be able if you tried to forget 
me. When hereafter you speak of me, speak freely of me for 
truth's sake with all my faults ; but when you think of me 
alone, try to forget all that is bad for love's sake, and al- 
though your imagination should in this way create a different 
person, no matter so you call it by my name. We have stormy 
times before us, dear W — ; but may God gi-ant us the privi- 
lege to ride the storm together. Farewell until we meet 
again, and when and ichere shall that be? 

"Lead Thou us on! " 

C. W. 



Lead Kixdly Light. 73 

Kev. Walter Elliott, C. S. P. has put this letter 
from the Wadhams correspondence into a character 
sketch of Father Walworth, which appeared in the 
Catholic World, June, 1901. He refers to it as 
^' a rare and beautiful specimen of friendship at its 
best, as well as of candor and humility." 

The next letter to Wadhams was from ^ew York. 
It tells how Father Rumpler was visited the very 
day of his arrival there, and how he received Wal- 
worth into the Church, on Mav 16th. The con- 
vert writes thus : " The creed of Pius IV sounded 
most musically in my ears, and I took pleasure in 
repeating it very slowly and distinctly." He had 
been to confession the day before and was soon after 
admitted to his First Communion. He says that 
when his conversion to the Roman Catholic Church 
became kno^\Ti at the Seminary, it was looked upon 
"as a thing of course," and an honest step. " Mc- 
Vickar is silent," he adds, " and reserved in the ex- 
treme but very kind. I do not know what to infer 
from this, but am imwilling to trouble him; I have 
made application through Father Rumpler to be ad- 
mitted as novice at Baltimore, and shall probably 
hear next week. I have as yet had no intercommuni- 
cation with my relatives in this matter. This, my 
severest trial, will come on next w^eek. And now I 
have told you all that relates to myself externally. 
My inward joy and satisfaction at being in the very 
church of God and communion of the saints I cannot 
express." He sends loving messages to a certain 
Judge and his family and speaks thus of B. B. J. 
McMaster : 



74 Life Sketches op Father Walwoeth. 



a 



Well, what liave you and Mac been doing in 
Essex county ? Has he been raising any commotion 
in your extensive diocese ? If he is with you still, 
give my warm love to him, although that is not very 
necessary, as I shall most probably be here when 
he comes down, and can do it for myself. I earn- 
estly hope he will be cautious in the extreme in his 
method of abjuring his Protestant connections, for 
his own sake and that of others, and especially of 
the great cause." 

The jocose allusion to Wadhams' ^^ diocese " held 
an unconscious prophecy. Essex county was actu- 
ally included in the new see of Ogdensburg, of which 
he became the first bishop in 1872. Mr. McMaster 
was destined later as editor of the Freeman s Jour- 
nal to keep abreast of all the religious " commo- 
tions,'' of his day. The " great cause " of course 
was the reunion of Christendom through the triumph 
of the Oxford Movement ; it Avas to sweep wave after 
wave of converts into the true fold of Christ, to be 
sure, but it could never come up to the hopes of its 
most ardent American defenders. Arthur Carey had 
gone down to an early grave, having borne the 
shock of conflict, with his eyes turned time and 
again to the majestic personality of John Henry 
l^ewman. He was ready " to cross over to Rome " 
whenever that master intellect should give the first 
sign, but he waited for it in vain. Alas for him, 
that the dawn crept on so slowly in the patient 
brain that had cast forth Tract l^o. 90 ! A loving 
vouns: heart broke under the continued strain. But 
yet in that very breaking the soul of Clarence Wal- 
worth gained an impetus that carried it on ahead 




HON. REUBEN HYDE WALWORTH, CHANCELLOR OF THE vSTATE 

OF NEW YORK. 



Lead Kindly Light. ' 76 

even of ^N'ewman's o^^ti, into the one true fold of tlie 
Good Shepherd. McMaster was almost abreast of 
him. Then a host of others came straggling in on 
both sides of the Atlantic. And still thev come! 
But many drew back. Others hesitated a long time, 
before severing heart-ties that bound them. JB. W. 
Whitcher, whose letter is annexed to this chapter, 
waited ten years before becoming a Catholic. Rev. 
Charles Piatt was a first cousin to Walworth and 
dw^elt at Rochester. He had gone through the Sem- 
inary with Wadhams. Though his heart was then 
w-ith them he never did ^' cross over to Rome;'' w^hen 
he heard Clarence was going to Europe he wrote to 
him thus: (Wadhams' Reminiscences, Chapter IV). 

Dear Cousin — I thank my God that your feet are at least 
planted upon the " Rock of Peter." I cannot, however, close 
with your invitation to come to New York and see you embark. 
To accept that invitation would mean that I am ready to be- 
come a Catholic, and I am not. I cannot break my mother's 
heart. 

Another cousin of Walworth's, a lady of Buffalo 
and an Episcopalian, has said most earnestly that 
those who knew him best there and in Rochester, and 
saw what sacrifices he made to become a clergyman 
and a Catholic, could not but look upon him as a 
great moral hero. Everything was at his command 
that a young man could wish to make him happy 
and successful on God's earth, and for conscience 
sake alone, he stripped himself freely of all. Those 
who had not given attention to the meaning of the 
Oxford Movement thought him hard-hearted, crazy, 
foolish or needlessly disheartened as the case might 
be. 



76 Life Sketches of Fathee Walwoeth. 

He went to Saratoga to try and console his mother 
who had written requesting the visit. '^ She takes 
my conversion very much to heart/' he wrote to 
Wadhams, " thinking me quite ruined hy becoming 
a Catholic. I shall return in a very few days. By- 
the-by, the priest at the Springs is a Cistercian or 
Monk of St. Bernard (only think, a genuine^ live 
Cistercian^, a very learned and I think a very good 
man. When Bishop Hughes traveled in Belgium, 
this monk became much interested for this poor, in- 
fidelity-ridden country, and obtained leave to come 
and help the good cause on this side of the water." 
Clarence was decidedly taken aback when he took a 
ramble in company with this live Cistercian, and 
stopped to call on an old neighbor, the wife of a 
Judge, who had ahvays a warm place in her heart 
for himself. She fairly scowled on his companion, 
saying pointedly, '^ I am very glad to see you, Clar- 
ence,'' and talked on, all but turning her back on the 
priest. Clarence soon bade her good-bye, indignant 
at this unexpected display of bad manners to his 
companion. Long afterward he heard that one of 
her daughters unknown to him had been reading the 
Oxford Tracts, and had '^ a leaning toward Eome ;" 
above all things, the mother dreaded lest she should 
become acquainted with a priest. 

He did not stay a great while at Saratoga. He 
reasoned long and earnestly with his dear mother, 
and strove to remove some of her prejudices against 
the faith that was in him, but could make no per- 
ceptible headway. She accompanied him as far as 
Albany and together they visited his sister, Mrs. 
Davison, and her young family, in Hawk street, be- 



Lead Kindly Light. 77 

tween Washington avenue and State street. It was 
not easy to say good-bye to this loving and beloved 
circle and then to lead his mother to the Saratoga 
train. Perhaps she hoped that at the last moment 
he ivould relent and return with her to his father's 
home. But no. He had asked for light and must 
follow its lead, at all costs. He was to take ship 
very shortly from I^ew York. It had been decided 
that he and Mr. McMaster and, as was learned at 
the last moment, a third convert to arrive from I^ew 
England, by the name of Isaac Hecker. were to be 
prepared in Belgium and Holland for the duties of 
the Catholic priesthood. They had been accepted as 
novices by the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer. 

These were strange and uncanny words to her 
ears, and sorrowful was the parting between mother 
and son. He put her on a Saratoga car, intend- 
ing without fail to take the next southbound train. 
It was a warm summer day of the year 1845. They 
were destined never to meet again. The last ob- 
ject her eyes rested upon in death was the portrait 
of Clarence on the wall of her bedroom at Saratoga. 
When he returned from Europe a Redemptorist she 
was in her grave. To her mind the Church of 
Rome, given over to idolatry, superstition and wily 
wickedness, was an abomination. But she kissed 
Clarence good-bye, then dropped her head in grief 
on one arm, which rested on the back of a car seat, 
and in this position he still saw her as the train 
moved off. A sad remembrance, truly, for a loving' 
heart. 

The following letters were found among family 
papers, and have not before been published. They 



78 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

are here given in the order of their dates. They 
show, among other things, that the son who was 
thus stirred to cross the wishes of his parents was 
neither hard-hearted nor ungrateful. He was fol- 
lowing the promptings of a conscience enlightened 
by deep study and earnest prayer. He was strug- 
gling on, above and beyond his companions, to a 
height of lonely crucifixion seldom required of a 
soul so young. He cut himself off from pleasure, 
wealth, honor, home, friends and country for the 
love of God. In answer to an inward call he had 
entered the land of vision, and was already climbing 
the mountain of sacrifice, at the first dawning of 
new light, whilst ever the lines of l^ewman, so re- 
cently published, held his thought: 

^'Amid the encircling gloom, 
Lead Thou me on." 

Only one of this budget of letters, that of July 21, 
1845, was written after he became a Catholic. 

Clarence to the Eon. Reuben H. Walioorth, Saratoga 

Spa, N. Y. 

New Yobk Sem'y, J^ovemher 19, 1844. 

Dear Father — Your constant kindness to me not only 
while under age, but ever since, has laid me under unusual 
obligations to be grateful both to God and to you, and yet I 
cannot deny that my continued dependence upon you for sup- 
port has been the occasion of much shame and uneasiness, 
especially knowing that what property you have has been 
acquired not by sudden fortune, but by labor and early 
economy, and having heard you often say that your yearly 
expenses were constantly entrenching upon that capital which 
ought to be reserved for your future retirement and rest. I 



Lead Kindly Light. 79 

cannot consider without feelings both of pain and pleasure 
the great expense which during the year past has been occa- 
sioned by the disease of my eyes — pain that they should have 
cost you so much — pleasure that you have met the expense 
so kindly and freely. 

These chiefly, besides other considerations have determined 
me to endeavor to relieve you of my support, for the future. 
I can I think make my wants very few for a little while, 
till the temporal fruits of my calling shall yield me year 
after year all I desire of this world's goods — the necessaries 
of life, the riches which Our Lord has given to the raven 
and the sparrow. My life henceforth, if God please, shall be 
devoted to the service of the Church. That is the Lord's vine- 
yard and there I am ready to labor for my penny a day. It 
will be a source of much regret to me that I cannot expect 
in this the full sympathy of my parents. It has pleased God 
to make us differ in some respects when we would be glad 
to agree. There will be on my part a deep satisfaction in 
believing that the religious views of those I love are con- 
scientiously held and piously carried out into practice, and 
I commend them with joyful hope into the hands of Him who 
has caused me to believe that all '•' they who fear God and 
work righteousness are accepted of Him." 

I purpose leaving immediately for Wadhams Mills, Essex 
County, where by Divine permission I shall spend the winter 
with my friend the Rev. Edgar P. Wadhams. I shall find 
there as I trust employment, healthful exercise and religious 
counsel and sympathy. 

Do not I beseech you be offended that I have not consulted 
you. Your advice will always be gratefully received; I knew 
you were willing to aid me to the extent of your power; and 
yet as my theological education is certainly hostile to your 
religious view^s and feelings, it became me to take this step, 
and to take it of my own accord. 

I look forward with both fear and hope to the action of the 
Senate upon your nomination to the Judgeship. I appreciate 
fully its advantages to your health and happiness and shall 
be overjoyed at your success. It would relieve me from much 
anxiety on your account. 



80 Life ISketches of Fathee Walworth. 

Give my love to my dear mother. May God recompense 
both you and her for this long course of parental care and 
tenderness. 

Ever your grateful and affectionate son, 

CLARENCE WALWORTH. 

Clarence Walworth to the same. 

Wadham's Mills, Feb. 24, 1845. 

Dear Father — I learn by a paper Mary sent me, that your 
nomination to the Judgeship has been withdrawn, and the 
name of Judge Nelson sent in to the Senate. After waiting 
so long in hope, it is a sad disappointment to us all of course, 
but if there is loss on the one hand there is satisfaction in 
knowing that there is gain on the other. It is a loss to know 
that you are deprived of the retreat we hoped for you from 
the excessive labors and vexations of your present office, but 
it is gain to think you are withheld from what the Holy 
Scriptures tell us most distinctly are hazardous and unde- 
sirable, viz.: an increase of worldly wealth, and an addition 
of worldly honor, which besides their manifold temptations, 
diminish our eternal gains by enlarging our present pleasures. 
I certainly think that when fortunes, honors and dignities are 
received they ought rather to be regarded as dangerous and 
responsible trusts, than as personal favors; for poverty is the 
better and more Christian state, otherwise I cannot under- 
stand why so many eulogiums are pronounced upon it in the 
Gospel, why our Lord chose it, and his first follov/ers gloried 
in it. If this is so, then when worldly fortune, honors or 
dignities are withheld from us, we may hope it is a personal 
favor to us, God bestowing his dangerous trusts elsewhere, 
excusing its from hazardous service, in order to permit us 
the more advantageously to attend to the perfection of our 
own souls, in that state best fitted for it. 

I doubt not you are well prepared to receive thankfully 
this indication of God's will, but I thought it would be kind 
and dutiful to assure you that I sympathize heartily with you 
both in your disappointment and your consolations. While I 
cannot deny that the thing has grieved me, yet Faith says 



Lead Kindly Light. 81 

plainly that our wise Father in heaven has made a good 
choice for you, withholding the temporal benefits, that he may 
give you the spiritual. I would rather you should have health, 
peace of mind, and opportunities of religious retirement than 
the sum total of all the honors and salaries the world was 
ever able to give. 

I received a few days ago a very kind letter from Mother 
which I will endeavor to answer very soon. I am in good 
health and want nothing. My eyes are constantly improving, 
and I have great hopes of speedily recovering their full use. 
I shall be very glad to hear from you. My cordial love to 
Mother and all the family you may see. 

Your afiectionate son^ 

CLARENCE. 

B. W. Whitcher to Clarence Walworth. 

[This letter was addressed to Saratoga Spa, 
'N. Y., and forwarded from there to lSe^Y York city, 
where Clarence then was, all alone, at Mr. Jenkin's 
house, 78 Eleventh street. Probably Chancellor 
Walworth himself redirected it to that address. His 
own letter of July 17th, next after this in order, 
shows a last effort of fatherly love to win his first-born 
son back to his fireside. Its swift-coming answer, 
which completes the group, shows that he was hop- 
ing against hope; and the words therein still throb 
with the pang of a heart-breaking farewell. But 
smiles and tears come often together in life, and so 
w^e may just as well read over here in the same con- 
nection in which it was found this chat of a fellow 
seminarian, and Tractarian not yet ordained, who 
was striving to maintain an untenable position on 
the back of the awakening Anglican '^ whale." 
Across the outer fold of this letter of Whitcher's, 
Clarence Walworth wrote the words : " Roman 



82 Life Sketches of Fathee Walworth. 

Catholic in fact." He always regretted that this 
companion of his in theological study dallied so 
long before becoming Roman Catholic in name. 
That Whitcher himself regretted it no less may be 
seen in his book: '' The Story of a Convert."] 

Whitestown, July 8, 1845. 
My Dear Walworth — Your favor of the 17th ult. would 
have been answered much sooner had I not been desirous of 
hearing from Piatt before I determined whether to go to 
the city or not. On Saturday last I had his answer, but have 
not been able to write until now, owing to indisposition, nor 
am I now well enough to write all I wish to say. Though I do 
not take the same view of the orders, sacraments and worship 
of the P. E. Church that you do, yet your letter made me feel 
very melancholy, for I cannot deny but that the governors 
in our church have arrayed themselves against Catholic truth. 
Protestant — the brand of our humiliation and shame — has 
been stamped upon us, and yet by the good Providence of God 
we are not called upon to believe any heresy. In this respect 
we are in a far better condition than our parent the church in 
England; e. g. I told Bp. DeLancey last winter that I thought 
some of our Articles heretical, which he thought was no im- 
pediment to orders, whereas such a declaration made to an 
English Bp. would be a bar to orders. I have no doubts in 
regard to the historical validity of our Orders. The consecra- 
tion of Arch. Bp. Parker (on which the whole question turns) 
was a valid though irregular consecration. Having then to 
my mind a true Priesthood, our sacrifice is a true one, though 
the form lacks many of the ancient ceremonies ; but it is not 
wanting in any essential part. I take the same view of our 
worship. It can only be sinful when positive error is taught, 
and as the service contains no error, (they being Catholic as 
far as they go) it is lawful to use it when it is not connected 
with heretical teaching from the pulpit. And by God's grace 
I shall avoid this. But I had almost forgotten to say that 
I do not think that I can go to the city at present, as it 
would prevent the visit which I intend to make to my mother. 



Lead Kij^dly Light. 83 

As your eyes are still poor, why not come and see me? I 
think it would do me no injury, as the people here would sup- 
pose that I had got you to come that I might convert you 
from what they think your errors. I shall not go west to 
visit my mother till the 18th of August. Come a fortnight 
or so before that time, and go with me to see Piatt and then 
go on to Fredonia to see your uncle. From what I hear, 
through Miss Berry, of your parents, they would be glad to 
have you take such a trip. For they regard your late change 
as the result of natural love of novelty and the immediate 
effect of a heated fancy; all of which they think will be cured 
by intercourse with your old friends, but especially they hope 
you may fall in love and marry, that an effectual bar may 
be placed to your orders in the Catholic church. This reminds 
me to ask you whether you have marked out any course for 
your future life ? You will not think it out of place ( I trust ) 
if I say that your present condition is very full of danger of 
which no doubt your spiritual guide has warned you. The 
danger is this, that having entered at once into the full en- 
joyment of the Catholic faith, Satan will take occasion to 
stir up pride and self-complacency; that spirit which we 
see too plainly in our high-churchman, a sort of "we are the 
true elect "-feeling — such as the Jews had towards their 
neighbors. Another danger is that no exertion will be spared 
to entangle you with some woman to cut you off from a 
higher and more divine life. If Ood's secret grace shall call 
you on to perfect virtue, follow it with a glad and trembling 
heart, but do not run before the grace of God, nor mistake 
imagination for grace. Origen did this and had a miserable 
fall. But I feel that I have no right to speak upon these 
subjects. 

Why is it, my Dear Friend, that Catholics seem to start 
up about my path when 1 make no distinct efforts to make 
them such? I teach the people that we have an interest in 
the departed and they in us, and here and there a pious soul 
asks of me in private whether they may pray for the departed 
father or mother or child or sister. I teach them to confess 
their sins, and they open their griefs to me, and ask what 
they shall do. I teach them to have unity among themselves, 
and they ask me whether unity with the Holy See will not 



84 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

be brouglit about. Charles writes me that it is the same with 
him, that about him have sprung up those who desire a higher 
and a more holy life; persons who seem to feast by fasting, 
and to grow by self-denial, and to increase in wealth by chari- 
ties to the poor. 

I do not expect to apply for Priest's Orders at present. 
There are several questions which I wish to study before doing 
so. Answer as soon as convenient and believe me, — Truly 
yours, B. W. WHITCHER. 

Reuben H. Walworth to Clarence. 

Saratoga Springs, Julp 17, 1845. 

My Dear Son — I wrote to your mother from New York to 
tell you that if you were anxious to do something to support 
yourself under present circumstances, I could make an ar- 
rangement whereby you could be appointed my probate clerk 
in the place of Mr. Barbour, with a salary. I understood by 
a letter from her that Mr. Barbour spoke to you on the sub- 
ject and that you declined it. I therefore said nothing on 
the subject while you were here. In conversing with your 
mother this morning, I am inclined to think I must have mis- 
understood the purport of her letter. If I was under a mis- 
take, it is not too late to make that arrangement, which will 
afford you the means of supporting yourself instead of being 
dependent vipon others who care nothing for you. Write and 
let me know whether you are willing to accept that situation, 
or would prefer to abandon j'^our parents and all your friends 
who really feel any interest in your welfare. Let me entreat 
you before you irrevocably sever all natural ties, and cast 
yourself upon the cold charities of the world, without funds 
or the means of procuring them, to reconsider your determina- 
tion to reject the offers of your only real friends to furnish 
you the means of earning a livelihood among them. What- 
ever may be your conclusion, however, and although you may 
be the means of rendering the residue of my life miserable, if 
not of abridging its duration, I shall not cease to pray for 
your happiness here and hereafter. 

Your affectionate father, 

R. H. Wx^LWORTH. 



Lead Ki^sjdly Light. 85 

Clarence, to the Hon. Reuben H. Walioorth, Saratoga Spa. 

New York City, July 21, 1845. 

My Dear Father — I received your letter on Saturday eve- 
ning. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the 
renewal it contained of your kind offer of the clerkship, but 
am constrained to decline it. I am persuaded the voice of 
God calls me elsewhere. If I am deceived with regard to the 
intimations of His will, I plead His infinite mercy as the 
ground of my excuse. Do not suppose that I have not con- 
sidered your offer with all its advantages, or that I am look- 
ing forward to the future with high anticipations of happi- 
ness. I see on one hand a life of independence, money beyond 
my wants or desires, leisure to pursue those studies most at- 
tractive to me, and what is more than all, the society, the love 
and approbation of my dearest friends. On the other hand lie 
the loss of all these, early ties broken, confidence withdrawn, a 
life among strangers for whom as individuals I have no espe- 
cial regard, and who have none for me, poverty and perpetually 
recurring humiliations and mortifications. I see also the pos- 
sibility, if God so please that I may become blind, useless and 
despised. And what afflicts me most of all, is the sorrow I 
shall occasion those to whom I am under God so deeply in- 
debted for past love and protection. I have not only thought 
of all these things, but they have forced themselves upon my 
mind when exerting myself to avoid them, until my heart has 
seemed broken and crushed, and every hope buried. 

And yet in all this I find some grounds of comfort. Our 
Blessed Saviour's cross was not covered with flowers, nor did 
a crowd of admirers follow Him to Calvary. He was not 
honorable, nor respectable, nor comfortable; but God ap- 
pointed to Him poverty, contempt and agony. Did He endure 
these that his followers might be spared? No! He said the 
world would hate them as it hated Him, and " except a man 
take up his cross and follow Me, he cannot be My disciple." 
We are not privileged to gather to ourselves enjoyments in 
this life, and plead the sufferings of Christ for enjoyment in 
the next, but if we would reign with Him then, we must suffer 
with Him now. It is difficult to believe that many moral, kind 
and neighborly persons, whose amiable qualities win our affec- 
tions, who are called Christians, and yet who take care to 



86 Life Sketches of Fathee Walworth. 

avoid troubles or ill remark, and enjoy the good opinion of all 
about them, are really in danger of suffering with the damned ; 
but so the Gospel teaches, and I can not think that salvation 
is so easily won. Certainly, when the way of duty leads to 
suffering, there is no safety in any other course. And such is 
clearly my own path of duty. 

I have become a Catholic, because I am persuaded that the 
Catholic Church is the Christian fold into which Christ 
gathers his own flock. In these United States, this Church 
is misunderstood and hated. Not only the spiritual destitu- 
tion of the whole country so proud in its infidelity, calls for 
help, but multitudes of Catholics are deprived of the sacra- 
ments of the Church and the privilege of public worship and 
instruction, from want of priests. There is an especial call 
upon me then who have looked forward so long to the priest- 
hood. And why should I not? My parents and my best 
friends do not love the Catholic religion and cannot bear that 
I should become a Catholic priest. Here is then on one hand, 
the call of God, and on the other the cry of flesh and blood. 
Which shall I follow? Clearly I must follow God, although 
my heart should break in the meanwhile, and indeed I think 
it cannot bear much more. Farewell! then, dear Father, and 
forgive me all the grief I have ever caused you, and espe- 
cially this last of all. It is I who give you the wound, hut I 
strike through my own flesh. 

My eyes are now quite strong, and I have great confidence 
that they will give me very little more trouble, indeed none 
except that of using them cautiously for a while. 

As to my plans I am not able to speak very definitely. I 
intend, God willing, to become a priest in the " order of the 
Most Holy Redeemer " ( so called ) and with that view to make 
my preparatory studies in a Seminary of that order in Bel- 
gium. 

I shall embark as soon as may be, how, when and where I 
cannot yet tell, as I must endeavor to go in the most direct 
and cheapest way. But I will write again before I leave. I 
received Mother's letter of the same date with yours and will 
try to answer it immediately. Love to her and all. May 
God bless you and sanctify you with manifold grace through 
Christ. Your affectionate son, 

CLARENCE. 



VI. 

VOCATION; STUDIES ABROAD. 

At St. Trond with Isaac Hecker — Letters from Bel- 
gium , Holland and England. 

He wlio so generously followed '' the call of God " 
in early manhood at a cost partly revealed in his 
farewell letter to his father of July 21, 1845, seems 
never from that time to have doubted his vocation 
to the Catholic priesthood. The enthusiasm and 
reverence with which he prepared himself for it 
never grew cold. But it was with a heavy heart for 
friends and country that he turned his back on 
America, to take ship for the Eedemptorist novitiate 
in Belgium. Accompanying him was one companion 
of former days, James McMaster, a convert like 
himself and from the Chelsea Seminary. He was 
of Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish parentage, the same 
who edited for many years the Freeman s Jmirnal. 
These two at the last moment were joined by a 
third American convert, Isaac Hecker, a native of 
'New York city, though of German parentage. He 
was a most interesting accession to the party. He 
came fresh from Brook Farm and the atmosphere of 
the New England Transcendentalists. He had been 
a disciple in turn of Ralph Waldo Emerson and 
Orestes Brownson. He knew all the ins and outs 
too, from an early apprenticeship at that trade, of a 
baker shop. They soon found him to be in many 



88 Life Sketches of Father Wal worth. 

ways a helpful, practical individual, with a warm, 
generous heart. At first, however, the two young 
travelers from St. Mary's of the Adirondacks looked 
with wonder upon this flaxen-haired idealist with 
the long locks resting upon his shoulders. He ap- 
peared a true Isaac, ready for the sacrifice, obedient 
to every whisper of the Divine bidding. Over the 
billows and through the brakes it was even now lead- 
ing him on all unaware toward the founding of the 
Community of Paulist Fathers. George William 
Curtis, who knew him in his early days, has de- 
scribed him as a frank, ardent, generous, manly 
youth. It was he who at Brook Farm nicknamed 
him, ^' Ernest the Seeker." Clarence Walworth and 
James McMaster had twenty-five days at sea on that 
first long voyage of theirs in which to become ac- 
quainted with Isaac Hecker. And where do friend- 
ships ever grow faster than when fellow-travelers 
are locked away from thickly peopled shores on the 
great bosom of old ocean ? When barriers of waves 
are piled up on every side against the sky, the bar- 
riers of reserve are wont to give way. They were 
aboard the good ship Argo, from 'Nerw York, having 
embarked on August 2, 1845, bound for London. It 
was an American ship, with a Yankee crew, and a 
full passenger list. The lower and larger berth of 
their stateroom held the two Tractarians, whilst the 
newly converted Transcendentalist slept peacefully 
above them. None of the three were seasick, and the 
hours of many days were passed in a pleasant inter- 
change of views. Clarence taught Isaac how to say 
the rosary. He and Edgar Wadhams had supplied 
themselves with this article of piety when they were 



Vocation; Studies Abeoad. 89 

in Montreal, and not being then Catholics, had shyly 
dipped their new rosaries in a holy water fount by 
way of getting them blessed, supposing that to be 
the proper way. These would-be novices were too 
eager to land to wait till they should reach the port 
of London. They quit the Argo at Portsmouth in a 
pilot boat, and traveled in railway coaches to Lon- 
don, from which they had on their way a glimpse 
of Winchester Cathedral. This we learn from Wal- 
worth's letter to Wadhams, written some months 
later.* On the 29th of August Isaac Hecker 
wrote home from London saying they had already 
been there for three davs. McMaster had ffone on 
to Oxford and Littlemore to find John Henry I^ew- 
man and talk with him of Arthur Carey and the 
American Tractarians. A few months later New- 
man himself entered the Catholic Church. The 
other two Americans took the first packet that sailed 
for Antwerp, embarking at Folkestone AugTist 30, 
1845. The next day they saw at Antwerp, Ru- 
ben's gi'eat picture, the ^' Descent from the Cross." 
They dined with a hospitable lady to whom they 
bore a letter from Father Rumpler, C.S.S.R. from 
whom they had parted in New York city. But 
they could not converse with her as she spoke only 
Flemish. There were friendly glances and grateful 
bows, a plentiful board, and good appetites, but 



* See Walworth's " Reminiscences of Edgar P. Wadhams," page 
116. This letter gives a full and lively account of the St. Trond 
Novitiate, and urges Wadhams to come and enter there. It 
also gives Walworth's first impressions of Westminister Abbey 
in graphic, characteristic language. Walworth also wrote from 
St. Trond to Preston, who had fallen heir to his room at the 
Chelsea Seminary. This letter was one more call Romeward, 
resounding in the thoughts of the future distinguished Vicar Gen- 
eral of the Archdiocese of New York. 



90 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

neither Walworth's French nor Hecker's German 
were of the least use for conversational purposes. 
That same evening after journeying across level 
country they reached St. Trond, a little town twenty 
miles from Liege. The star of all their brightest 
hopes stood over it. How quaintly charming this 
ancient little place seemed to the two young 
Americans! Can you not see them, their boyish 
faces aglow with anticipation, passing side by side 
through the narrow streets, wondering at the un- 
familiar architecture, and old-time painting, while 
the sunset light of historic Flanders was streaming 
in through every opening to light up their locks ? At 
last they stand before the Redemptorist novitiate, 
an old Augustinian building. With what a tremor 
of expectation they must have looked about them 
and into each other's eyes ! Then boldly they 
knocked at that mysterious portal for admission. 

If to a Catholic from birth, one reared under the 
care of religious, and in his own land, it be a mo- 
mentous thing to put himself into the hands of a 
novice-master for spiritual training, what courage 
and faith, and longing for sanctity, must not have 
been in these two hearts, to bring them thus over 
sea and land. The star of faith had first drawn 
them from heresy, and then led them far away from 
the bright heritage of their free western land, where 
the path of legal distinction lay open to one, and of. 
untold wealth to the other. 'Now, at last, in the calm 
ray of its light they stood here humbly seeking ad- 
mission to a holy house as stood the Magi at Beth- 
lehem's cave. The poverty of the spot touched but 
did not alienate them. They felt the presence of 



Vocation; Studies Abeoad. 91 

angels close by as tliev crossed the threshold, and 
right willingly they laid down at their Redeemer's 
feet the best of all gifts, their own radiant selves, 
for service in the priesthood. What did they know 
of diocesan seminaries, or different orders, or special 
priestly vocations ? Knowledge of all that would 
come later; but here indeed in this novitiate was a 
" treasure trove,'' as Clarence expressed it in one of 
his letters. Here, in this Congregation of the Most 
Holy Redeemer, founded by the saintly Alphonsus 
Liguori, was a wealth of spiritual lore that his soul 
craved, and a wisdom of spiritual guidance that sup- 
plied all his needs. Here and later at Wittem he 
bounded forward on his course with rapid strides. 
He soon outstripped in theological studies his friend 
Isaac Hecker whose previous classical training had 
been less thorough. The questions of Clarence and 
his love of reasoning won him the name of Brother 
Pourquoi. The language of the Redemptorist Houses 
at St. Trond and Wittem was either French or 
Latin. After completing the novitiate at St. Trond, 
and taking the vows, he passed on to Wittem, the 
House of Studies. It was in Limbourg, that part 
of Holland reaching southward in a narrow strip. 
It was decided whilst at St. Trond that Mr. Mc- 
Master who had soon followed them from England 
had no vocation to the priesthood. The Master of 
E^ovices, Pere Othman, advised him to return to 
America and do battle for the cause of truth as an 
editor. He obeyed this advice to the letter. He 
married and prospered, remaining always a zealous 
Catholic. Clarence Walworth made his vows on the 
Feast of St. Teresa October 15, 1846. The spirit 



92 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

in which he prepared himself for them and for the 
priesthood, as also the old strength of affection be- 
tween him and his father and a certain calm wisdom 
unusual in one so young, appear in the following 
letters. They were carefully preserved by Chan- 
cellor Walworth. From the originals as filed away 
by him they are here copied. 

Clarence, to the Hon. Reuben H. Wahoorth, Saratoga Springs, 

etc. 

St. Trond, Sept. 18, 1845. 

My Deae Father — I have permission to write to you which 
I avail myself of very gladly, for I would not have you think 
that in consecrating myself wholly to God in a religious order 
I divest myself of filial love. On the contrary, should I by 
grace be able to fulfill my vocation, the Divine love will make 
my regard for my parents and all my relatives both more pure 
and tender. Indeed I shall never forget my obligations to you. 
Morning and evening, in my chamber and out of doors, at all 
hours of the day and especially at the Holy Sacrifice, I com- 
mend my parents to the care of God, and solicit in their behalf 
the kind interest of the saints in Heaven, Should anything in 
my conduct before my departure appear strange, remember 
all the circumstances of my case, the constant control I was 
obliged to exercise over my feelings which almost distracted 
me. Although I never wavered in my resolution, which 1 
believed to be the will of God, yet I sometimes thought I 
should gain the victory at the expense of a broken and para- 
lyzed spirit. But it is not well to say any more of all this. 

May I ask you, dear Father, to consider sometimes when 
you are at leisure, when your court is dissolved and all the 
learned and distinguished men who surround you so often are 
gone, to ask yourself sometimes, what is the spirit of the 
Protestant religions, what are their requirements, and how do 
they agree with the demands of the Gospel — what mortifica- 
tions of pride are required, what duties that the natural man 
finds hard? What is there in the world about you which 



Vocation : Studies Abroad. 93 



nature demands and the Presbyterian religion forbids. What 
strong temptations about you are you constantly called upon 
to resist in order to follow Jesus ? Certainly a religion which 
demands no sacrifice is not Christ's, and a holiness which 
pleases all the world is different from His. To obey God 
when the heart recoils, this is the way of the Cross. You will 
not I think be displeased with what I say, because you know 
well if I supposed my friends were in the way of salvation, I 
myself would not be here. May God in his infinite mercy hear 
my prayers in behalf of you all! 

But you will rather desire to hear of myself than to know 
my thoughts, therefore I will speak of myself. I left New 
York August 2nd, the feast of S. Liguori the founder of 
our order, and landed at Portsmouth from a pilot boat after a 
passage of 25 days. From thence I proceeded by railroad to 
London or rather to Westminster where I remained a few 
days waiting for a steamer to Antwerp, in the meanwhile tak- 
ing private lodgings just by the Vauxhall gate. England is 
very beautiful; the country itself has a gay and joyous look, 
but the people rich and poor look either stupid or frigid. 
England is " Merry England " no longer. * * * What a con- 
trast this side of the channel presents. Antwerp was to me 
a new world. * * * AH neat and smiling, seemed happy as if 
they had just made a good confession and God had bid 
them be glad. Every public building, every street corner, and 
almost every door, had some religious emblem. It is the same 
at St. Trond where I am now located for the year to come. 
Everything pleases me here. I am satisfied that if I earnestly 
and patiently endeavor to draw near to God, I have here 
enough both to teach, encourage and aid me. I take the habit 
on the 15th of Oct. next, which will be the commencement of 
my novitiate, and a year from that date, please God, I shall 
take the vows and commence my theological studies, probably 
at Wittem, not far from here where there is a Seminary of 
the order. * * *' (He tells what a novitiate is, and then con- 
tinues) : As for my health it never was better, and my mind 
never more calm or happier. I have in my chamber a picture 
of the Infant Jesus standing against the cross, with his arm» 
extended as if waiting to be crucified. There are no nails in 
his hands or his feet. He is at liberty, but he has made his 



94 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

choice and will not go. It is a sweet picture and teaches a 
precious lesson to the novice when the Way of the Cross seems 
hard. "If anyone will be my disciple, let him take up his 
cross and follow me! " And so I take my stand also before 
the Cross, not without great fear for my weakness, but with 
much confidence, that God will supply the necessary strength. 

Remember me kindly to my old friends, w4th the assurance 
that they are not forgotten. I have loved them for many rea- 
sons heretofore. Now I will try to love them for Christ's 
sake simply. As for my dear Mother and sisters, and Mans- 
field, what shall I say to them? We have no longer many 
matters of worldly interest in common. For that reason I 
connect them the more in my thoughts with things of eternal 
interest. I cannot wish for any of you riches, or honors, or 
means to live too easily, all which may bring too strong temp- 
tations to neglect salvation, but I wish for you just such gifts 
and privations as may best lead you to despise earthly happi- 
ness and repose solely in God. 

Again and again and always, for your past love and great 
kindness, and my mother's exceeding tenderness, I thank you 
both, and give you all I can, my constant and most earnest 
prayers. May God reward you richly with gifts of eternal 
value. 

Your affectionate son, 

CLARENCE WALWORTH. 

P. S. — If you should wish to write to me, direct to me " at 
the R. FF. Redemptorists, St. Trond, Belgium." 

Clarence, to the Hon. Reuben H. Walworth. 

St. Tbond, July 6, 1846. 

My Dear Father — Your letter has reached me safely and 
is most welcome. Satisfied as I am with my position in this 
blessed Congregation and firm as is my determination with 
God's permission and approbation to serve him in it until my 
death, I find nothing to forbid, but everything to foster, the 
strong affection which nature and reason and gratitude de- 
mand toward yourself and my mother, my earliest and most 
constant earthly friends. Had I not a God to serve whose 



VocATio2^; Studies Abroad. 95 

voice calls me elsewhere, where could I desire to be rather 
than by your side, in my own country and surrounded by all 
my old relatives and friends! Nature can find no country 
so beautiful as one's own native land, and none so dear as 
the old familiar faces. But I in my humble degree have a call 
similar to the Apostles, who left their nets with their father, 
because they could not resist the voice of Jesus who called 
them away. Nature must give way to the call of Grace. My 
constant prayers for you are my witnesses, my dear Father, 
how well I remember you. And it is pleasant to know I am 
not forgotten. 

There is nothing in the regulations of our order to forbid 
or discourage correspondence with friends, especially with 
parents and others to whom we are bound by ties of nature 
and of gratitude. Only this correspondence must be regulated 
by those principles to which we are bound, of renunciation of 
the world and of matters of secular interest, of self and selfish 
gratification. Those things which concern the welfare of my 
family, friends, and of my benefactors are subjects of legiti- 
mate curiosity, since they are also the subjects of my daily 
prayers. It may be well to say however that souvenirs such 
as sometimes pass among friends, unless of the simplest kind, 
as a religious picture, etc., are matters of embarrassment, on 
account of the vows we take which hold us to poverty and 
community of goods. 

I thank you for the good advice you give me. It is in 
accord with the object of our order and the past life of our 
missionaries, and I desire and resolve by divine help to profit 
by it. To do good to others is the way to show our gratitude 
to God, and if the motive be sincere and holy, he accepts it 
as if done to Himself. 

I am grieved that Mother's health is so poor. Alas! what 
can I do but recommend her to Him who ever desires the 
happiness of His creatures. May He restore her to health 
again, or at all events give her an inward peace which shall 
be able to soothe and silence the pains and plaints of the body. 
I trust you are more careful, my dear father, of your own 
health. Your friends always thought you too careless in that 
respect. I believe few persons young or old are good judges 
in their own case. Bodily health is a gift of God which like 



96 Life Sketches of Fathek Walworth. 

all other gifts we ought to give up cheerfully when duty calls 
for it; but without such call our bodies have a certain claim 
upon us. We all know well enough the principle, but it is in 
the application we deceive ourselves and sacrifice all to the 
dominant desire. 

The year of my novitiate is now almost past, and my voca- 
tion to this order is already considered as decided. I shall 
take the vows, please God, on the 15th of October next. I 
depart then immediately for Wittem, a place still further to 
the eastward, and within nine miles, I think, of Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle, but belonging at this time to the King of Holland. It 
is so small you will scarcely find it on the map. Here is 
situated the House of Studies for our order in this Province, 
and there I remain until I shall be prepared for orders. When 
this will be I cannot say, but I trust to receive a long and 
thorough course of instruction. During the novitiate, you 
are aware perhaps, no studies whatever are allowed, its end 
being on the part of the novice to prove his vocation, by the 
manner in which he fulfills his duty and the zeal and industry 
with which he endeavors to acquire the virtues. Would to 
God that all the world could pass through a similar novitiate, 
if for no other end than to learn what a work is the work of 
reformation; if only to discover by the tenacity with which 
the heart clings to its secret disorders when seriously attacked, 
how many and how profound are those disorders; with what 
patience and pains and hard labor one must contend until 
death, and what wondrous grace is necessary to give him 
success. 

I enclose a letter to Eliza. I intended to have written her 
long ago. Mother writes me that Mansfield will enter Union 
College soon. Doubtless you have well considered the matter. 
Still I cannot help think Williams College, or Yale, far prefer- 
able. 

My eyes have gained every day in strength, and I have not 
the least doubt that Dr. Elliott has effectually cured the 
disease of the nerve. I perform now all the exercises of the 
novitiate without difficulty. My health is good, 

I scarcely know in what terms to bid you remember me to 
Mother. Let it be done in such a manner as her long and 



VocATiox ; Studies Abeoad. 97 

patient love to me deserves. To all the rest of the family 
also, Sarah and Mansfield, I send a brother's love. To Mary 
and Eliza I shall write. 

Believe me always your grateful and affectionate son, 

CLARENCE ALBAX WALWORTH. 

P. S. — Should you write after the 15th Oct. or your letter 
be not likely to reach me before then, direct to the care of our 
Congregation — Wittem, Holland ( Limbourg, j)ar Maestricht ) . 

His sister Eliza named for him her eldest son. 
Marv became a widow, Xovember 9, 1846. His 
mother continued to fail in health ; she died at Sara- 
toga April 24, 1847. Before this following letter 
was penned his friend, Edgar Wadhams, like him- 
self, had become a Catholic theological student.* 

Clarence to the Eon. R. H. Walworth. 

WiTTEM, Jan. 1, 1848. 

My Deaeest Father — I wish you from the bottom of my 
heart a Happy Xew Year, and the same to all the rest whose 
happiness is constantly the object of my prayers. When I 
heard last from home you were just recovered from a sad 
accident which had caused you much suffering. Although my 
sympathy was necessarily ex post facto, it was I assure you 
none the less deep and genuine. May God preserve to you 
long a health which is dear to so many. 

I myself have been laid many weeks upon my back by the 
typhus fever, or as the physicians here call it typhoid or 
diminution of the typhus which prevails in many parts of this 
country, although by no means so dreadfully as nearer yourself 
in Canada. It has, however, done its work thoroughly enough 
in our Convent, which it has turned into a hospital for a 
long time. The number of our sick amounted at one time 



• See Reminiscences of Edgar P. Wadhams," p. 125 for a cheery, 
congratulatory letter to him from Clarence Walworth, dated, Wit- 
ten, Dec. 1st, 1846, and addressed to the Sulpician Seminary iu 
Baltimore. 



98 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

to no less than 36. All the Professors and students in The- 
ology except such as remained to take care of the sick were 
sent away to St. Trond or Liege, where they remained until 
last Monday. However, all is over now, and only one remains 
confined to his chamber, although many show still the marks 
of a long diet. Five of our dear brothers, three students and 
two lay brothers have gone to their rest. May God graciously 
hear their prayers for us less happy who are left behind! 

All Saints' Day I received the clerical tonsure and the minor 
orders and left the church immediately for my bed in the 
infirmary, where I remained until Dec. 15th, when I was- 
placed among the number of convalescents who formed a sort 
of second community apart from the rest. Last Sunday I was 
permitted for the first time to come to the common table in 
the refectory, but am still prohibited from attending class or 
joining in the other exercises of the community. So you see 
here my history for the past two months, and also that of 
our Convent. The name of the Lord be praised! You can 
easily conceive in a community which consists in all of more 
than 100, a house of studies moreover wherein are 50 students 
with their Professors, how many plans and schemes had been 
concerted for the coming year. All these the Lord God was 
pleased to dissipate with a single breath in order no doubt 
to teach us how little need He had of us all. Such at least 
is the impression it has made upon my mind. If God so often 
and so utterly disconcerts the plans which are entered into 
for His glory, not only by an humble community of mission- 
aries like ours, but even by States and Councils as history 
teaches so plainly, how foolish for a simple individual to 
aspire to become God's benefactor, or dream of any plan of 
extended usefulness, uncalled by God, while he leaves neglected 
that to which every man is especially called and obliged — the 
sanctification of his own soul. No, indeed, this is our chief 
concern. At the day of Judgment God will not ask of us how 
much we have done, nor how much good we have done, but 
rather whether the motives of our actions were true love to 
him, or self-love and ambition, true obedience or self-will. 
Pray for me, my dear Father, that I may be ever actuated by 
such principles and that all my actions may be sanctified by 
true love and obedience and a heartfelt humility. 



Vocation; Studies Abroad. 99 

I am exceedingly happy for I have found my true vocation 
and am satisfied with it beyond what I am able to describe; 
and the malady which has so lately visited our house of 
Wittem, has contributed to raise this satisfaction, if indeed 
increase were possible, to the highest point. The patience and 
contentment of so gi-eat a number of sick, which amounted to 
gaiety, the happy fervor of the dying, the charity of those 
brothers who were permitted to devote themselves to the ser- 
vice of the sick, and the thousand ways and forms in which 
were manifested the holy influence of our discipline and God's 
benediction upon it, were well enough calculated to increase 
my love and veneration for our order, and my earnest desire 
to live and die in the faithful observance of its rule. 

You will not forget to remember me affectionately to every 
dear member of our family. Sarah it seems considers me in 
her debt for a letter, I thought the balance of the account 
was the other way, but I am not disposed to dispute the ques- 
tion. For the present I must postpone payment and in the 
meanwhile recommend myself to a choice place in her patient 
and affectionate remembrance. 

Let me hear particularly of your health which, after the 
gi'eat question of eternity, is the chief point of interest, and 
believe me ever 

Your affectionate son, 

CLARENCE A. WALWORTH. 

Wittem, Jan. 5, 1848. 

P. S. — I send the enclosed as a Christmas present to Eliza. 
She will see by the back of the picture that she is thus invited 
to perform during the year the office of the Negro King at 
Bethlehem in bearing the myrrh, which she can do by sup- 
porting ill health or other incommodity with patience for the 
sake of our infant Saviour. My compliments to Mr. Backus 
also and little Lilly, my old playfellow at Schenectady. 

Whilst Clarence Walworth was writing the above 
letters he was under the direction of some remark- 
able and very holy men. One of these was the Very 
Reverend Father Passerat, Vicar-General of the 

LOFC, 



100 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Congregation of Eedemptorists in tlie nortli, resi- 
dent at Vienna, who visited Belgium during this 
preparation of the two young Americans for the 
priesthood. Father Passerat looked carefully after 
the instruction of the students. These young men 
were greatly interested in the personality of this re- 
vered superior, who had seen eventful days in the 
French army when his native France was in the 
throes of its awful revolution. They wanted his 
picture at Wittem but could not induce him to sit 
for it owing to his humility. The artist of the 
house managed, however, to hide himself with his 
paints under a table with a cloth too large for it. 
By a skillful arrangement of its folds, he observed 
Father Passerat's features whilst he was giving a 
conference, without attracting his attention to him- 
self, though he did not escape the keen eyes of the 
Americans. He secured in this way sufficient ar- 
tistic data for a portrait. In a volume entitled the 
" Life of Father Bernard,'' by Canon Claessens, on 
page 217 of the appendix, are these words of Car- 
dinal Yillecourt : ^' If Father Hoffbauer had re- 
ceived from God the mission of instilling into the 
members of the institute (of St. Alphonsus) the ar- 
dent zeal and indefatigable activity of the holv 
founder. Father Passerat may justly be called the 
master of the spiritual life, destined to revive more 
and more, among the Eedemptorists, the spirit of 
prayer.'' 

It was Father Passerat who sent Father Frederick 
de Held, an Australian nobleman and a graduate of 
the University of Vienna, a friend of literary men 
and scholars, to Belgium in 1833 to direct the Re- 



Vocation ; Studies Abroad. 101 

demptorist commiinities recently founded there. He 
became provincial over them and soon extended the 
houses of his order into Holland, England and 
America. It was Father de Held who had accepted 
the young converts Walworth and Hecker as novices 
in 1845, during his visit to the United States. He 
had with him at that time a companion, Father Ber- 
nard Hafkenscheid, a native of Amsterdam who was 
destined later to give to Father Walworth his train- 
ing for the missions. It was a part of Father Ber- 
nard's duty when at Wittem to give retreats to the 
seminarians. He also preached regular annual re- 
treats to the clergy of the Holland Mission ; hut his 
great power as a pulpit orator was shown ahove all 
when on the parish missions to the laity. For two 
terms he was prefect of the second novitiate of the 
Redemptorists, ^an immediate preparation for the 
missionary career. It has been said of him that 
'^ there was never a professor of sacred eloquence 
w^ho could more successfully develop the oratorical 
talents of his pupils." What delight he must have 
taken in the training of so apt a pupil as Clarence 
Walworth! It was largely to Father Bernard's in- 
structions and example that the latter was wont to 
attribute his success as a mission preacher. 

Father Walworth w-as ordained priest, August 27, 
1848, by the Bishop of Ruremonde, in Holland. 
On the fiftieth anniversary of that event, he asked 
me to take from among his degrees and diplomas, 
in a small lock box, his ordination papers, and find 
the one of that date signed by tkat bishop. I did so, 
and read over to him as well as I could the Latin 
text of it in the seclusion of his home adjoining St. 



102' Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

Mary's Eectory in Albany. That was tlie only cele- 
bration of his golden jubilee that he allowed or de- 
sired. To me it was an impressive moment when I 
unfolded that yellow paper, and watched, as I read 
it, the expressive countenance of the venerable man 
before me whose thoughts were leaping over a half 
century of fruitful priestly labors. 

A month after his ordination, Father Walworth 
crossed the channel with two young Belgian priests 
and Brother Isaac Hecker, who had not yet suc- 
ceeded in passing the examinations for ordination. 
They journeyed as far as Clapham, three miles south 
of London Bridge. There the Redemptorists had 
recently established a convent. From September, 
1848, until January, 1851, Father Walworth re- 
mained in England. His " Reminiscences of a 
Catholic Crisis in England " relate to this part of 
his life. When he was seventy-eight years old he 
dictated them to his amanuensis, between intervals 
of illness. They appeared in the Catholic World 
'Magazine from June, 1899, /to January, 1900. 
These Reminiscences give proof of a wonderful mem- 
ory and an indomitable energy. The character of 
Cardinal Wiseman, the no-popery riots, and side 
glimpses of Irish Famine days are brought before the 
reader with vivid touches, whilst the author's com- 
ments show a broad grasp of thought. Some will 
read, some skim over the following letters to his 
father. In them we learn more of his younger per- 
sonality. We can there see him at his priestly labors 
in quiet Worcestershire, winning his way to many an 
English heart, though bristling all the while with un- 
tamed and undaunted American patriotism. He was 



Vocation; Studies Abroad. 10 



Q 



English enough to love the landscape and historic 
spots, Yankee enough to resent the class distinctions ; 
zealous as always for the truth, unmellowed as yet 
by a cultivation that came from fifteen consecutive 
years of travel, much deep thought, and a wide ex- 
perience of human nature. Letters home from 
young hearts in any case must needs reveal char- 
acter, and where, if not in such correspondence, is 
it allowable and desirable to dwell on one's every 
day pursuits in the line of duty? 

To the Eon. R. H. Walworth, Saratoga Spa. 

Hanley Castle, Feh. 5, 1849. 
My Dear Fathee — You have perhaps been surprised at my 
long silence, and so am I. If I had written as often as I 
have undertaken to do so, you would have been long ago well 
supplied with letters. When you heard from me last I was, if 
I remember rightly, at London, newly ordained Priest, and 
not yet much entered into the active duties of my calling. 
Now, however, I am fairly engaged in it, preaching, confessing, 
instructing, catechising, etc., etc., which together with the 
religious exercises of our order among ourselves, fill up the 
day in such a way, that it is difficult to find even a spare 
moment for a deliberate yawn. You will agree with me no 
doubt that it is better so, according to the well-known prin- 
ciple of the primer : " For Satan finds some mischief still for 
idle hands to do." It is in this way that I have postponed 
writing from day to day until at last to my own confusion I 
forget when I wrote last. I find moreover, that contrary to a 
certain half hope which lay sneaking in the rear of my im- 
agination, my dear friends in America insisting with true 
freeman's jealousy upon their rights, have not seized the 
charming occasion offered them to display their superior gen- 
erosity. So you see, my dear Father, how I am obliged to 
come out of my winter quarters a little shamefaced and begin 
the campaign. 



104 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

I am situated now with six others of our order, three priests 
and three lay brothers, at the little village of Hanley Castle in 
Worcestershire, about four miles from Upton on iSevern, two 
miles from Malvern, not far from the City of Worcester, and 
just under the beautiful liills of Malvern so much frequented by 
Byron and other poets of England. We have a most beautiful 
Gothic Church and Convent, so beautiful and perfect that it 
draws visitors from all parts to admire the architecture. It 
is no doubt very beautiful arid all that, but for my part I 
would be glad enough for the present to exchange it for an 
uglier one of any shape and style, situated in some more 
populous place, inhabited by a greater number of God's own 
dirty-faced poor. However, at present in England, we take 
what we can get, and the rest bye and bye. Our order is only 
just beginning in England, and it is always something gained 
to make a beginning. 

I commenced my missionary labors, properly so called, in 
December last, just before Christmas, in the Parish of St. 
George's, London, where we were invited by Bishop Wiseman 
to give a spiritual retreat (that is, as you would say in 
America, a revival). It was a large church, holding about 
3,000 persons, and was well filled during the two weeks we 
preached there. I will give you some account of it, in order 
that you may understand what is the especial vocation of a 
Redemptorist missionary and our way of conducting a mis- 
sion. Our public exercises at St. George's were as follows: 
At 111/^ a. m. every morning except Sundays, I preached 
after the Gospel of the Mass ; at 6 % in the evening I ex- 
plained the mysteries of the Rosary to the people, and then 
recited the prayers with them. At 7 p. m. another of our 
Eathers explained the ten commandments and their obligations 
and prohibitions. A 8 o'clock in the evening, a third Father 
already a distinguished Preacher in England (Father Peche- 
rine) preached on the great general truths of Religion, such 
as the nature of Sin — Death — Judgment — Hell, and simi- 
lar subjects the most calculated to stimulate the conscience. 
The rest of the day was given to the confessional, and the 
necessary preparations for our instructions. The hearing of 
confessions is the principal thing done, whether you consider 
the time occupied — the fatigue, or the benefits resulting. 



Vocation; Studies Abroad. 105 

It is then we bring about reconciliations between enemies; 
force the guilty man to restore what he has taken by fraud, 
violence or theft; oblige criminal lovers to separate; and 
oblige all persons to keep away from those places or occa- 
sions, where it appears by their own showing, or by the nature 
of the thing itself, that they cannot resist the temptation to sin. 
It is here too we find our consolations in viewing the effects of 
our ministry in the pulpit, and so learn at the same time 
what is useful in preaching, and what is thrown away. Here 
we see plainly too how much corruption walks about under 
fine clothes, and how also devout looks and religious sentiment 
often hide a shabby conscience. 

Nothing but experience can show clearly how much is done 
in confession for the salvation of souls which cannot be done 
in any other way. Conscience may be excited in the pulpit, 
and also general instruction given, but it is impossible there 
to continue the work, and build up a ruined soul again, and 
carry a reform into effect. Our work was rather fatiguing, 
for we had little more than five hours sleep, and the excite- 
ment of the day was more wearing than its bodily labor. 
I confess I felt a singular interest in the fact of entering upon 
my missionary labors in London — (i. e. Southwark) the an- 
cient residence of my own race, and preaching there their own 
ancient faith, which they had practiced centuries ago before 
Christianity had yet heard of Protestantism. On seeing one 
day the London directory I had the curiosity to search for 
my own name. I found in the whole city only two Walworths 
if I remember rightly, a stone mason and a cheesemonger, or 
something like that. The district of Walworth, a large and 
populous one, belonged to the parish of St. George where we 
gave our Mission, which also made me feel so to say, more at 
home. 

The difference between Englishmen and Americans is strik- 
ing, with the exception always that both are phlegmatic. Tho' 
Americans are cool but animated, the English are cold. You 
may think perhaps there is national prejudice in this, but I 
think not much. The people seem to me like a noble race 
hampered by the absence of liberty and hope. God grant 
that poor old England may become " Merry England " again 
some day. 



106 LiFK Sketches o^f Fathee. Walworth. 

My health is pretty good, just as you have always seen 
me, i. e. in a lean mediocrity with a certain leaning towards 
the 2d seven years of Joseph's prophecy. My eyesight is 
wonderfully improved so that it gives me no difficulty in good 
daylight. I presume by the news which I have heard of 
Taylor's election to the Presidency, that the Empire State 
went against both his competitor and yourself.* This is of 
course, no grief to you; so far as you are personally concerned 
I presume you would rather be congratulated than consoled 
for this. Pray let me know, my dear Father, when and how 
you employ yourself, if at Saratoga altogether, or if you have 
an office at Albany, New York or elsewhere^ if you are in good 
health and spirits, etc., and if you have given up the idea, 
which was thrown out a while ago, of a trip to Europe. Give 
my best love to all the dear family — and to myself across 
the water your paternal benediction. That God may nave 
you ever in his holy keeping is my daily prayer at the Holy 
Sacrifice. Remember me also in your prayers. 

Your affectionate son and servant ever, 

CLARENCE ALF. WALWORTH. 
C. S. S. R. 
My address is: 

Rev. Father Walworth, 

Hanley-Castle, Worcestershire. 
(Near Upton on Severn.) 

On the back of this letter his father has written 
these words : "Answered March 10/' The reason that 
answers to these letters from England are not here 
given may be found on page 187 of the volume of 
Wadhams Reminiscences. There Father Walworth 
says : " I am not in the habit of preserving private 
letters." The middle initial of his name, be it ob- 
served, may stand either for Augustus, Alhan, or 



* Ex-Chancellor Walworth was, in the autumn of 1848, the 
Democratic candidate for Governor of New York. The office of 
Chancellor, on and after July 1, 1848, together with the court 
over which he had presided, was abolished by the new constitu- 
tion. Thenceforward he held court only in certain referred cases. 



VocATioi^; Studies Abroad. 107 

Alfonsus. Augustus, was given him by his father. 
The others first appear in a joyous letter to Edgar 
Wadhams written just after he became a Catholic 
(See Wadhams Reminiscences; Benziger Bros. 
1893, pages 83-86). It concludes thus: ''Your af- 
fectionate friend and brother, Clarence 'Alban Al- 
phonsus.' The two names you see in my signature 
are the names by which I was confirmed. '^ 

His second letter from Worcestershire reads thus : 

To the Hon. B. H. Walworth, Saratoga Spa. 

Hanley Castle, June 12, 1849. 

Deab Father — I am still here at Hanley occupied in the 
duties of my calling as when I wrote you last. These duties 
so far as they regard the people of the neighborhood, are 
preaching, confessing, visiting the sick, superintending and 
catechising the children of the School, and instructing the 
converts who seek admission to the church of which there 
are always several on hand. Indeed our mission is composed 
for the most part of converts brought up in the English 
Establishment or in the Baptist or Methodist sects. The 
zeal of these different religions here is not very fervent. 
The greatest obstacles we find in our way arise from the 
want of religious and moral sentiment, and from the depen- 
dence of the people on their landlords. The circle of our opera- 
tions is wide enough, on account of being in the country; 
which is certainly a great disadvantage, because with journey- 
ing back and forth one takes a long time to do what in the 
city is soon accomplished. In fact the people are getting 
quite accustomed to see the little Roman Catholic pony 
trotting backwards and forwards. 

I am not surprised to hear that your health is so much 
better. The great wonder is how you could ever sustain the 
great labors you have undergone for so long a time. You 
will now I hope have all the benefit and interest of time well 
occupied in those pursuits for which your habits of mind have 
best fitted you, and yet free from drudgery. 



108 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

I should liave been very well pleased if General Cass had 
succeeded in the elections, for then there would I suppose 
have been some hope of seeing you, in the case of your receiv- 
ing a foreign appointment. For myself I cannot say anything 
(for I know nothing) with regard to the time of my return 
to America. It is probable enough that I shall return some 
day, and perhaps soon, but I shall never ask to be sent there, 
for fear that if I should seek out a destination to please 
myself, God would be the less pleased with it. 

June 14. I resume my letter to-day at Overbury where I 
am staying with a Catholic gentleman, Mr. Fitzherbert, for 
two days. It is only nine miles from Toddington of which 
you spoke. Lord Sudbury's seat. If possible I will endeavor 
to see it, and tell you something of it before closing my letter. 
I have seen Almley Castle, or rather the hill where it used to 
be, the seat of the celebrated Earls of Warwick. The great 
Guy of Warwick, the old King Maker, must have been very 
familiar with the whole scene of my ramble yesterday, and 
a lovely country too. I think the English gentlemen who 
inhabit this vicinity at present, although not so warlike as 
those of old, have something of their breakneck disposition. 
It is wonderful that they should chase with their hounds and 
horses over hills and crags where another would pick his 
way carefully, on foot. They are all mad with hunting and 
sporting.* I wonder the English gentry do not all turn into 
horses, and the tenants into donkeys. 

At Hanley we are only some 21/3 miles distant in direct 
line from Malvern, which is like Saratoga Spa, a visiting place 
in the warm season for invalids, on account of a spring which 
for some reason unknown bears the name of Holy Well. 
Like Saratoga the place would scarcely have an existence ex- 
cept for the visitors. From the top of the Malvern Hills we 
look down into Hereford to the west, with a view of what I 
may call the premonitory symptoms of the Welsh Mountains. 
None can deny that the country is very beautiful. It is won- 
derful to see the misery which abounds, above all the moral 



* It remains^ for the twentieth century American to say 
whether or not we are true chips of the old block, whenever a 
chance comes for the sons of millionaires to play the lord. 



YocATiois"; Studies Abeoad. 109 

insensibility and degredation, giving the lie to the ideas of 
Paradise which well-fed ladies and gentlemen entertain when 
they look upon these beautiful woods and meadows. And 
yet England is not very populous especially in this quarter. 
If all Americans knew the value of their condition, in a tem- 
poral point of view at least, they would have reason to eat 
their Thanksgiving dinners with a genuine hearty gratitude 
to God for their daily bread. 

Jan. 16. A rainy day yesterday prevented me from visiting 
Toddington, and as I return to-day to Hanley, it will be im- 
possible at present to visit it. It is said to be a most beautiful 
residence, and kept with great care. 

My best love to all the dear members of our family and 
all friends who enquire after me. Excuse this careless scrawl 
of which I am somewhat ashamed, and give me across the 
great ocean a father's benediction, a father for whose happi- 
ness my daily prayers are oiBfered at the holy altar. 
With filial love and esteem, 

Your faithful son, 
C. WALWORTH, C. S. S. R. 

To the Hon. R. H. Walworth, Saratoga Spa : 

Hanley Castle, Dec. 10, 1849. 

My Very Dear Father — The long time which has passed 
since I have heard from home, makes me fear some miscarriage 
either of your letters or of my own, for I am sure when you 
have so many who can write to me, you would not so long 
maintain silence. I have been wondering this long while at 
receiving no reply, and blame myself for not having written 
again sooner on my part. I only want one little line to know 
if you are all well and happy. I know very well how long 
absence, and difference of country, occupations, pursuits, 
companions, as well as religion, breaks up the family union 
so far as that union consists in outward circumstances, but 
it cannot break up that more real union which Grod establislied 
and which cannot cease at least until time has ceased. So, 
dear Father, encourage all to write to me now and then at 
least, not that I care what is going on about you except so 
far as your happiness is affected by it but only to receive 



110 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

a little piece of paper, with a few marks of ink on it, so that 
I can kiss it and say — this comes from home — they love me 
there — and I am not forgotten — and all is well. — For my 
own part without making any excuses for my negligence in 
time past, I agree to beat my breast, as we Catholics do when 
we go to confession and say, '•' Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea 
maxima culpa." 

I am pretty busy at present in our mission of Hanley for 
business grows on our hands, especially now that we have 
opened a new chapel at Upton. As a Protestant it will give 
you perhaps no pleasure to hear that the principal and most 
interesting part of our duties is the instruction and care of con- 
verts to the Catholic faith, which is going on even still more 
rapidly in other places. Still, however, if you could witness 
the religious destitution which drives so many to us, you 
yourself would not have the heart to regret it. 

One of the things which struck me much in England is the 
existence in almost every Parish of extensive commons, of 
which one reads so much in Blackstone. These are of the last 
importance to the poor, who can maintain there at no cost, 
geese, sheep, &c. It is one of the last privileges which still 
remain in the possession of the poor, but which I fear will 
not remain long, for applications are constantly making to 
Parliament from different Parishes to divide these commons 
among the Proprietors of the Parish pro rata. Such will 
soon be the case with a large common close by us. It is 
singular to an American to see take place about him unjust 
and oppressive measures, which one would not dare dream of 
in his own country, but which meet with no opposition here, 
for there is no one to plead for the poor, while they receive 
all these things as misfortunes certainly, but quite natural 
and not to be wondered at. You have heard much no doubt 
of the passion of the English gentry for the chase, but per- 
haps you do not know how burdensome this is to the poor, 
even beyond the effect simply of the game laws. The tenants 
hire their farms and gardens with one little condition, not 
to kill the hares &c., which break bounds to come in, nor 
to lay traps and so on to protect what they have planted, 
and as the beautiful Eiiglish hedges give little trouble to 
these intruders and are also not to be meddled with, the 



Vocation: Studies Abroad. Ill 



poor tenant has only to take off his hat to these little four- 
legged rascals and wring his hands over the destruction of 
his property. And all this for the better preservation of a 
morning's amusement. The rich have all in their own hands, 
even so to speak in forming the moral code of the people. 
The little children are early accustomed to it, and the first 
commandment of the ten is: Thou shalt not crawl through 
a hedge; and the second is like unto it: Thou shalt not put 
foot in the park, nor run on the gi'ass. As the English Clergy 
are all interested, none more so, in this state of things, religion 
in England is no barrier in favor of the poor. As these 
are some of the things which form sometimes the topics of 
agitators (although rarely, for agitation does not trouble 
much the country people,) and do not much concern my 
ministry, of course I do not meddle with them; and yet while 
I am more concerned with the moral misery of the people, 
I cannot help but feel for their temporal miseries, and take 
pleasure in the thought of iVmerican liberty. 

Please send me a little news of yourself and the dear family, 
and give my heart's best love to them all, and to me your 
paternal benediction. 

Your affectionate son, 

CLARENCE WALWORTH, C. S. S. R. 

There is anotlier letter addressed to the ^^ Hon. R. 
Hyde Walworth " from Hanlej Castle, dated June 
18, 1850, in which Father Walworth mentions his 
hirthday lately gone by as creating an impression of 
hecoming old. '^ Thirty years is getting pretty well 
along in life,'' he writes; and then describes his life 
in Worcestershire as " quiet although not inactive." 
He continues, after some jocose and poetic allusions, 
to give his father a record of his labors and trials 
as follows: 

" Since I wrote last I have been upon missions to the north- 
ward, at Liverpool and Manchester. Liverpool is almost like 
a Catholic city. It is estimated that nearly a third of the 



112 Lifts Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

people are Catholics: Certain it is that Catholicity is so 
well known there that it excites no wonder, as in places 
where it is more strange. I went out into the streets in the 
habit of my order, only partially concealed by a short mantle, 
and was scarcely observed except by Catholics, who are accus- 
tomed always to salute a priest whether a stranger or not. 
I ventured even one Sunday morning to preach in the open 
air, in the very heart of the city, in the midst of a dense 
population of Catholics, and in my full habit, without the 
slightest disturbance or interruption. A large empty egg-box 
speedily arranged by being turned upside down was my pulpit, 
— a large crucifix was held above my head, and some twenty 
members of a Catholic Guild in religious uniform, composed 
my body guard.* 

This may give some idea of the change of public sentiment 
in a few years. We have around us still and only just laid 
by, the relics of the times of persecution; the pocket altar- 
stones, the little altars made to shut up like a peddler's box, 
and hide away; and in the houses of the Catholic gentry here 
and there, still remain the little holes in closets in the wall, 
made to hide the Priest in case of a search. 

I was much interested in Manchester, that great city of 

smoke. You have read, if I remember rightly, a description 

of it in Dickens' story of Little Nelly or Humphrey's Clock. 
I went through one of the largest factories, where in one 

single chamber 400 girls were occupied with the charge of 800 
looms, and poor, pale, emaciated creatures they were. There 
is certainly a great deal of moral misery too in such a city 
of machines, but there is some distinction to be made. Those 
who work at the looms are best off in a moral point of view, 
for the nature of their work shuts them away in a good 
measure from evil communication during the day, and when 
night comes they are glad to rest their weary limbs at home. 
In some other factories where the work is less separated, the 



* In this manner a large number were rallied to take part in 
the Mission at the Church who, otherwise, might never have heard 
It announced. 



Vocation; Studies Abroad. 113 

Devil has little trouble, his work goes on of itself, as if by 
machinery, and he lives easily on his regiilai- income. Satan 
has his looms also, and the tongue is the liveliest of shuttles. 
One experiences a painful sensation in such a place as Man- 
chester, where the suffocation of both body and soul prevail 
together, where even flesh and blood is denied its proper edu- 
cation, and where human beings are only valued as so many 
bones and joints, so many elbows or cranks, capable of a 
given number of evolutions per diem. Still after all, if com- 
parisons are to be made, much which has been said of the vice 
of manufacturing towns, proceeds from superficial observa- 
tion, from those who take dirt and dust for sin, and green 
fields and sweet air for innocence; for my own part, I believe 
that in England at least, Satan prefers the idle misery of the 
country poor, to the busy misery of the poor of Manchester. 

I have had the pleasure lately of seeing Lord and Lady 
Shrewsbury, who came to visit our Church. The Earl is a man 
without any apparent pretension, and has a consideration 
and kindness in his conversation, which from the ease with 
which he manifests it, I should judge to be habitual. His 
manners contrast so strongly with those of his countrymen 
in general, that I cannot doubt he acquired them abroad. 
His Lady also is evidently made of the same piece with 
himself. 

Mr. Xewman I have had the good fortune to meet frequently 
at his convent at Birmingham, and love him always more 
and more. 

We are much interested here in England in the case of 
Gorham vs. Exeter. * * * May God bless you, my dear 
Father, in this world and more abundantly in the next. 
* * * Asking you paternal benediction, I remain ever 
Your faithful son, 

C. WALWORTH, C. S. S. R. 



VII. 

A REDEMPTORIST MISSION PREACHER IN 
AMERICA. 

Some of the Best Work of His Life. 

" Hecker was a serious-minded man full of 
earnest energy, but by the love of God made cbeerf ul 
and happy; and could draw audiences who will not 
forget him. Others can still know him by his pub- 
lished works. Of the band who came with us in the 
good ship Helvetia, I know of only one that is now 
left. Father Kittel was the first victim to apostolic 
zeal. Hecker has gone. Of the whole twelve, I only 
am left to witness what these dear companions were, 
and to weep that they are gone." These words came 
from Father Walworth's lips on All Saints' Day 
in the year 1899. "Not long before this he had 
asked to have Pope Leo's Letter on Americanism 
reread to him. He was sitting in his Albany home, 
near his amanuensis. On the library table and on 
shelves close at hand were manuscript pages and 
proof sheets of the concluding chapter of 
his " Reminiscences of a Catholic Crisis in 
England Fifty Years Ago." Catholic World 
magazines, beginning with the June number of that 
year, tied up in packets, were piled on a stand. 
It was the magazine Father Hecker had founded and 
to which Father Walworth, from the earliest issues, 
had been a frequent contributor. Their lives were 



Eedemptorist Missioner in America. 115 

often side by side in times gone by. 'No wonder 
lie thoiigbt of bim! That day be seemed to bave 
it in mind to set in order some of bis tbougbts, 
about bim, as if for publication. But tbis be did 
not accomplisb. Tbe deatb angel bovered near and 
said: '''No:' 

Walwortb and Hecker, as liappy companions, 
journeyed togetber from London to Paris during tbe 
montb of January, 1851. Tbey bad mucb to tell 
one anotber of tbeir experiences in different parts 
of England. Tbey were on tbeir way now to join 
tbe new Provincial of tbe Pedemptorist Houses in 
America, Pev. Bernard Josepb Hafkenscbeid, wbo 
bad laid claim to tbem for tbe American missions. 
Fatber Hecker bad been a priest for two years. He 
was ordained in London by Bisbop Wiseman on 
October 23, 1849. Under Patber Bernard's direc- 
tion, after tbeir arrival at Paris, tbey were taken 
to visit tbe interesting tomb of St. Vincent de Paul,, 
tbat wondrous friend of tbe poor. It was tbeir 
privilege, too, to drink in spirituality at tbat foun- 
tain of tbe priestbood, St. Sulpice. Tbey were ad- 
mitted, witb several companions, to tbe innermost 
sanctum of a remarkable Parisian scbool of mar- 
tyrs in tbe Rue du Bac, known as ''Le Seminaire 
des Missions Etrangeres/' Tbey listened eagerly to 
Lacordiare's preaching at St. Pocb, wbicb Fatber 
Walwortb bas well described in bis very last cbapter 
of Reminiscences. After mentioning bim and IN^ew- 
man as preacbers, and also bis opinion of wbat con- 
stituted tbeir power, tbe venerable writer tberein 
states tbat be bimself learned more for bis own use 
in tbe priestbood from bis Redemptorist superior 



116 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

than from either of those .two famous pulpit orators. 
His words of heartfelt tribute to the Holland priest 
are as follows: 

^^ M.j model preacher sat beside me in the sanctu- 
ary at St. Roch's. It was Father Bernard Hafken- 
scheid. He taught me how to be a missionary and 
to give real missions and not retreats. I never knew 
my missionary vocation fully till I knew him. 
Here let me say once for all, without enlarging upon 
the matter, that Father Bernard made a thorough 
study of me and of Father Hecker, and later on of 
Father Hewit^ Father Deshon and Father Baker, 
as indeed he did of all who came under his influ- 
ence, and trained us up as far as he could to be mis- 
sionary apostles. How far he was conscious of be- 
ing another St. Liguori I cannot say. That he 
aimed at this I know as a certainty. From him, 
among other things, I learned during this homeward 
voyage, that it was an important part of my own 
personal vocation to be not only a missionary but 
an American, and that this planting of me and of 
the other American pupil of the same master was a 
call from heaven. To establish the preaching of 
American missions in America was from this time, 
at least, the foremost thought in Father Bernard^s 
mind, and the central wish of his heart." 

The party of twelve Redemptorists aboard the ship 
Helvetia, who sailed from Havre January 27, 
did not reach the port of ISTew York until St. 
Joseph's Day, March 19, 1851. They had made a 
devout novena to that saint, Father Bernard declar- 
ing again and again that they would be in port for 
his feast. Aboard the ship were Fathers Landt- 



Redemptorist Missioner in America. 117 

sheer, Kittel, Dold and Giesen, as also the students 
Hellemans, Mueller and Wirth. They were two 
weeks getting out of the English channel on account 
of head winds; storms battered them, and when off 
Newfoundland icehergs impeded their progress. 
Father Dold's account of the voyage, with many de- 
tails, is given in Appendix K of Claessen's '' Life of 
Father Bernard.'' Father Walworth's account of 
it fills three pages of the Catholic World for Janu- 
ary, 1900. I remember that he once told the story 
of that very eventful voyage by word of mouth to 
his parish school. It was about the year 1889. He 
had just been saying Mass for them on St. Joseph's 
Day in the school chapel at 'No, 7 Pine street. How 
well he adapted the narrative to their young minds ! 
How their bright eyes glistened as he concluded his 
eloquent but simple instruction! He first told 
them of St. Joseph's journey to Egypt in order 
to save the Child Jesus from Herod's decree. This 
was followed by words of confidence in his protec- 
tion and a lively account of his own soul-stirring 
escape from many dangers of the sea. He gave the 
details of the progress of Father Bernard's novena ; 
the captain's good-natured incredulity; the sudden 
lifting of the fog on the fifty-fourth day of their 
voyage, w^Mch convinced them, to their surprise, 
that they w-ere already in New York bay. There 
before them in full view, he said, lay a stranded 
wreck on Sandy Hook beach. It had gone ashore 
in the night. Soon a tug came in sight with Father 
Hecker's brothers aboard. The first figure they 
recognized on the tug was the tall one of James 
McMaster, standing in bold relief on deck, his hand 



118 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

above his head, waving a hat. As his motions were 
described to them by their pastor, and also Father 
Heckeir's exclamations of delight, the children 
laughed outright in their glee, and with this happy 
arrival in port his story ended. 

As soon as the fathers landed from the Helvetia 
they went to the Redemptorist church and convent in 
Third street, between Avenues A and B, to say Mass, 
as had been promised, on St. Joseph's feast. It was 
there in the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer 
that Father Rumpler had, several years before, re- 
ceived Clarence Walworth into the true fold. I^ow 
he came back to them wearing their own habit, the 
overlapping cassock, with a large crucifix thrust in its 
girdle. A warm welcome was given to all after 
their memorable fifty-four days at sea. From this 
convent the following letter was sent next day to 
Saratoga : 

New York City, March 20, 1851. 

My Dearest Father — I hasten to inform you of my arrival. 
We came in yesterday evening after a very long and tedious 
passage. I am, however, in pretty good health for me. I 
send you this line in haste^ leaving a thousand particulars 
to tell you by word of mouth. Please write me, dear Father, 
when I shall find you at home, and let me know the where- 
abouts of the different members of the family, for some may 
be here in the city even, and I not know it. 

My dearest love to all until I see you. Address care of 
Rev. Fr. Muller, Catholic Church, 3rd St. 

Your affectionate son, 

CLAR. WALWORTH. 

There was indeed much news for him of an un- 
expected kind from Saratoga. He soon learned that 
his father was preparing to bring home a bride. 



Redemptoeist Missionek in America. 119 

The ex-chancellor was married to his second wife 
on April 16, 1851, at Harrisburgh, Kj. The lady 
of his choice was Sarah Ellen Smith Hardin, widow 
of Colonel John J. Hardin of Jacksonville, 111. 
Her first husband was killed in the battle of Buena 
Vista in 1847. She took with her to the Saratoga 
homestead three Hardin children: Ellen, Martin D. 
and Lemuel. The Mexican War had been waged 
and had passed into history during the years Clar- 
ence had lived abroad. 

At the Third street convent Father Walworth 
found among the community an interesting convert, 
Rev. Augustine E. He wit, who was waiting to join 
him and Father Hecker in giving parish missions 
in the English language throughout the United 
States. Father Hewit, as he soon learned, was a 
native of Connecticut and an alumnus of Amherst. 
He had become a priest and a Redemptorist without 
having occasion to leave his native land. At 
Charleston, S. C, in 1846, he was received into the 
church, and at Baltimore he made his novitiate. 
In that city he had shortly before parted from a 
dear young friend, an Episcopalian clergyman, 
Francis A. Baker. Five years later he won him to 
his side as a companion apostle. He joined them 
under the Mission Cross in Washington city, just 
a few months after George Deshon, a West Point 
graduate, had begun to preach missions as a 
Redemptorist. 

In 1851, however, but three of these converts had 
received ordination. How Father Bernard's eyes 
must have brightened with hope as he watched 
them ! How carefully he instructed them for a first 



120 Life Sketches o-f Father Walworth. 

venture as missioners on their native heath in the 
austere garb of St. Alphonsus ! If he had any mis- 
givings about them they were promptly dispelled 
by the success of their first American mission. It 
was opened at St. Joseph's Church, 'New York city, 
on Passion Sunday, 1851, by request of the rector, 
Rev. Joseph McCarron. 

They had the assistance and advice not only of 
Father Bernard himself, but of Father Joseph 
Mueller, the rector in Third street. 

This mission, preached in English, at old St. 
Joseph's in lower Sixth avenue, the church in which 
Father Walworth had been confirmed by Archbishop 
Hughes but a few years before, was indeed a notable 
occasion in the religious life both of New York city 
and of the United States. It was a great pioneer 
event. To be sure, the Jesuit Fathers had already 
preached retreats here and there in the language of 
the country, but missions were not the same thing. 
These were devised and carried on, not only to 
gather in the Catholic masses of all classes and lift 
them to a higher spiritual plane, but especially were 
they intended to reach down ^' to the most aban- 
doned souls." To these above all they were to 
bring the Christ-King's message of forgiveness and 
the kiss of devine peace. There were carefully 
planned announcements and well-concerted meas- 
ures for stirring human souls to their depths, that 
had come of long experience in parishes of Europe. 
They had been tried not only in cities, but out 
among the lonely tillers of the soil and uncouth 
mountaineers. The course of " Exercises " first 
planned by St. Ignatius Loyola to render more 



Redemptokist Missioner in America. 121 

spiritual the thinking minds of his day was 
adapted by these fervent disciples of St. Alphonsus 
Liguori in a practical, masterful way to many dif- 
fering needs. They knew well how to deal both 
with surging crowds and scattered sinners. 

The labors of the converts, Walworth, Hecker and 
Hewit, original, full of initiative and yet keeping step 
with one another in Liguori's harness, led to many 
conversions from Protestantism as they passed from 
place to place over the country. Father Bernard 
of Amsterdam w^as only for a time their superior. 
Father Alexander Czvitkovicz, once a Hungarian 
Cossack, succeeded him in direct charge of their 
route. He was a confessor known to have great 
powers oif endurance. But greater yet were the 
crowds of penitents their preaching brought to his 
confessional. Spent with toil and travel, he was 
obliged to seek a respite at ^ew Orleans. Father 
Walworth, as senior joriest, then led the band. 
Meanwhile they had grown by natural accretion to 
that famous group of five, Walworth, Hecker, 
Hewit, Deshon and Baker. These were they whom 
Pius IX saw fit later to release from their vows as 
Redemptorists through a decree of bishops and regu- 
lars in 1858, leaving them subject only in their 
priesthood to their own American bishops. He 
urged them at the same time to continue their zeal- 
ous work, which they did, under the new name of 
Paulists. The toils and journeyings of Father Wal- 
worth on the missions as Eedemptorist and Paulist 
for fifteen long years he himself called the best work 
of his life. He so expressed himself when he was 
looking back upon these eventful years from extreme 



122 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

old age, after his activities liad readied out into 
many other channels and, success of many kinds had 
waited upon his efforts to further God's Kingdom. 

Tall, lean, muscular, austere, as his picture shows 
him and his friends describe him, strict in observ- 
ance of rule, unsparing in labor, fasting, meditation 
and use of the discipline as practiced by his com- 
munity, he struggled on from mission to mission. 
At his Augean task of cleaning up neglected souls, 
he expended an energy untiring as that ascribed to old 
Hercules himself. For now, at last, after his long 
preparation, he was in fact as in spirit a true mission- 
ary. Early kindled fires, that had been glowing 
with restrained but ever-increasing heat through 
the years of training, broke out into flames of zeal 
that astonished even his saintly companions. They 
lit up or renewed in innumerable hearts the love of 
God. 

Where, it may be ask^d, was the first spark 
of such a zeal enkindled ? His own book, " The 
Oxford Movement in America," answers this ques- 
tion. In it he tells us how every one who bore the 
name of missionary was welcomed at his early 
home. There he saw his mother faithfully read the 
Missionary Herald^ and his father ask each day a 
benediction at family prayers on " all those mes- 
sengers of the Gospel who carry the glad tidings of a 
Saviour's love to the d^rk and benighted corners 
of the earth." As a boy he had dreamed over again 
the dream of Williamstown farmers who talked of 
foreign missions as they rested to the leeward of 
their famous old haystack in Berkshire. Brave, 
honest hearts were theirs, beating high with an un- 



Redemptoeist Missionee in America. 123 

selfish purpose; but their stalwart bodies and keen 
brains found scanty shelter from sudden peltings 
of storm and error behind a tangled heap of hay and 
heresy. Their horses ate up the hay. tangles and 
all; their children, with more each year of leisure 
and culture, are apt, some of them, to brush ruth- 
lessly aside with the dried burrs of hereditary heresy, 
only too many rich kernels of spiritual truth that 
should give strength to Christian citizens. 

Though Father Walworth brushed away the 
heresy that he too had inherited, he never lost his 
early interest in foreign missions. As a Protestant, 
he heard Mar Yohannan's talk of oriental churches 
while he smoked a long Turkish pipe on the old Sara- 
toga piazza. At Chelsea, again, he listened to a mis- 
sionary's tale of China. All the ins and outs of 
" Bishop Southgate's Mission " to Constantinople 
were learned, partly at the same seminary and 
partly from Father Hewit, who had volunteered for 
it and been rejected as a Romanizer. It was Clar- 
ence Walworth whom the Chelsea students chose for 
president of their missionary society. He read of 
Martyn in Persia, of Heber on ^' India's coral 
strands," and of each and every hero of fame in the 
Protestant mission field, not forgetting, of course, 
the achievements of Eliot with his Bible for Ameri- 
can Indians. This was all familiar ground to him 
before he ever eame in touch with the marvelous 
mission records of Roman Catholic literature. 
How they crowd the bookshelves of many lands, 
and are piled high in the manuscript closets of num- 
berless cloistered retreats ! The '' Mother-Houses " 
of two hemispheres can scarce contain their wealth 
of records. 



124 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

If ever a bit of old Catholic mission history was 
spaded up in his own land and about to be turned 
over into English from the language of its explorers, 
there at once, if possible, was Father Walworth, 
eager to get an early look, ever adding new informa- 
tion to his store and new incentives to his zeal. 
When he found leisure to resume linguistic studies 
and delved into barbarous dialects, it was less as a 
philologist than to find keys with which to unlock 
more wealth of Catholic mission records. All this 
goes to prove that the importance, the need, the sub- 
limity of generous missionary effort was ground into 
his soul. 

When he began the preaching of missions in 
America, his native land, he appeared in what was 
then considered the garb of a stranger. He had 
with him foreign companions, some of whom spoke 
no English. He was very unlike them, and yet old 
friends were shy of him. The path of the convert 
is ever a lonely one. But this made him all the 
more a missionary. It 'caused him to walk all the 
more with God. Perhaps in the popular estima- 
tion this very isolation made him appear as if in a 
special way set apart to be God's ambassador. Per- 
haps for the abandoned souls he was seeking it gave 
an added healing to his touch. At all events a mar- 
velous number of sinners were aroused by him to a 
better life, the eyes of the ignorant and prejudiced 
were opened to the light of Catholic truth, and the 
poor " had the gospel preached to them," with pow- 
erful eloquence in the language of our vast land of 
freedom. Fathers Walworth and Hewit preached 
the great mission sermons of the evenings on such 



Redemptokist Missionee in America. 125 

subjects as Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. The 
latter became known as time went on by the name 
of '' the old iron-grey,'' owing to a certain weight 
and powder with which he spoke. Father Walworth 
was designated as '^ the one with the clarion voice," 
and Father Hecker, from always starting the even- 
ing service, at which he gave an instruction, with 
the recital of the rosary, was often called '' Father 
Mary." After several days of preaching, with daily 
attendance of the people at the Masses, meditations 
and instructions, the missioners began to hear con- 
fessions daily, often being so occupied from seven 
until one o'clock in the day and again from four 
until ten at night. At this work Father Alexander, 
who seldom preached in English, was incessant and 
seemingly tireless. He was a short and slender man 
but strong and wiry. He could sit fourteen hours 
in the day hearing confessions and continue that 
laborious work daily through a long mission without 
showing fatigue. He, with the three Americans, 
gave the second of the missions in English at Prince 
Gallitzin's Colony of Loretto, in the Pennsylvania 
Alleghanies. This prince, it will be remembered, 
was the second priest ordained in the United States, 
Father Badin of Kentucky being the first. His suc- 
cessor to the parish of Loretto had promptly asked 
for the newly arrived missionaries. So they jour- 
neyed by rail from 'New York to Philadelphia and 
thence on the Pennsylvania Central to Hollidays- 
burg. After leaving that place they soon began to 
ascend the mountains by the quaint old system of 
inclined planes, with a stationary engine at the head 
of each slant and ropes with which to pull up the 



126 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

cars. Late at niglit tliey reached Summit, a station 
on the crest of the ridge. They waited in the sit- 
ting-room of the inn there till the landlord ap- 
peared, candle in hand. Father Alexander de- 
puted Father Walworth to go choose the rooms. He 
therefore followed the landlord up stairs to a room 
with two heds. In each bed was a man already 
asleep. 

" Which bed will you take ? '^ said the innkeeper. 

" But both are occupied," said the astonished 
priest. ^^ I prefer neither." 

" What ! " said the other, " don't you double ? " 

" ISTo," was the answer, " I don't double." 

" Don't any of your friends double ? " he asked 
as he scratched his head and looked troubled. 

" Perhaps you had better ask them," was the 
mock-serious answer, and they turned to the stairs. 
Father Walworth repressed his smile as they re- 
entered the sitting-room, and Father Alexander was 
confronted with the question: 

" Do you double, sir ? " 

This was an intricacy of the English language for 
which the good father was not prepared. It was 
explained to him, after which he said, with foreign 
accent, but decided emphasis: 

" 'No, I do not double, I never double." 

All gave the same answer. The landlord was in 
despair at this, till Father Walworth suggested that 
if he could spare some blankets or comfortables, 
they would be content with the large room they were 
in, where they could lie on the floor. " Oh, that's 
easy enough," said the man, and he brought also 
enough mattresses to make four good pallets. 



Eedemptoeist Missioner in America. 127 

" Wal, now, you air strange folks/' said he, 
" most of my lodgers would think them quarters 
rather beneath 'em, so to speak. They want a good 
bedstead under 'em." 

" 0, we are not so hard to suit," was the rejoinder. 
" It is only that we are a little bashful about doub- 
ling. This is first-rate." 

They dozed on till morning and then drove six 
miles over a mountain road in a lumber-wagon to 
Loretto. The church was a plain wooden structure 
like a schoolhouse, with benches. Instead of sta- 
tions or pictures of saints, it was ornamented with 
various warnings against smoking, chewing, or spit- 
ting on the floor and like attempts to teach the gospel 
of good manners. 

The mission opened with a High Mass on Sunday 
morning. The farmers came with their families 
in wagons and brought lunches with them, then and 
on each day of the mission. Whilst waiting for Mass 
to begin on Sundays the men, after hitching their 
horses securely, sat around the sides of the church 
with their backs to the wall and commenced whittl- 
ing. All in the colony attended the mission. One 
man who hung back at first declared that his old 
grandmother, long dead, appeared to him in the 
night-time and warned him to save his soul now or 
never. She sat by the fire, he said, in the frilled cap 
she used to wear in the old country, and shook her 
finger at him as she spoke the warning words. He 
woke up his wife, and she saw her, too. Another 
man related that St. Alphonsus himself appeared to 
him shortly before the missioners arrived; when 
they did come and he saw them robed and girded 



128 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

like the saint, lie hastened to make the mission, 
firmly believing that this was his last chance of sal- 
vation. 

At the close of this mission, a great cross was 
planted in the cemetery lot on a hill where it was 
proposed to begin the erection of a new and finer 
church. The congregation marched to this spot. 
Father Walworth preached a farewell sermon under 
the cross, and there at a given signal, a band of 
Mexican war veterans fired off a salute to the em- 
blem of salvation. The effect was exhilarating. 
After the ceremony, the soldiers assembled on a 
second hill and fired volley after volley to the delight 
of the boys both old and young. 

After a hearty hand-shaking and a reluctant fare- 
well, the settlers returned to their farms, and the 
missioners journeyed back to Hollidaysburg. They 
opened a mission there at St. Mary's, May IS. 
1851. When that was over, they crossed the moun- 
tains to Johnstown, and gave one there. 

It was at Youngstown, Pa., in December of that 
year that they first tried preaching from a platform 
on which a large black cross, some ten feet or more 
in height, was erected. From the arms of the cross a 
white muslin cloth was suspended. Previously to 
this they had erected a cross out of doors as at Lor- 
etto, or nearer the church, but merely as a closing 
ceremony. 

In February, 1852, they gave a mission at St. 
Peter's Church, Troy. When they were at St. 
Joseph's in Albany, at the old church on Pearl street, 
near what is now called " St. Joseph's Industrial 
School," Father Walworth's stepsister made the mis- 



Redemptorist Missiois^ee in America. 129 

sion and became a Catholic, staying several days at 
the Sisters' convent whilst being prepared for the 
sacraments. The crowds that came day after day 
seeking admission to that small parish church, as it 
was then, extended far out into the streets, especially 
when Father Walworth preached, as his well-modu- 
lated voice was clear and had great carrying power 
even in a whisper. But only those within, of course, 
could see his gestures, which were always graceful 
and telling, whilst at times his action was start- 
lingly dramatic. It seems that at this place, he not 
only pointed often to the tall black cross but he 
even clung to it, till it swayed back and forth with 
the weight of his body, whilst the people con- 
science-stricken and pale with emotion watched and 
listened in almost breathless silence. 

He preached also at Saratoga, where his beloved 
father came with the throng and listened and won- 
dered at the power of his oratory. At Utica, Brook- 
lyn, Detroit, Washington, Charleston, Baltimore, and 
up among the quarries and factory towns of Vermont 
they gave missions. Also, at out of the way 
places to the west they had to teach even the 
young priest in charge, w^ho had never been to a theo- 
logical seminary, having studied only under some 
country pastor, how" to go through services that are 
frequent in cities. Here and there in many States, 
they continued their zealous work. The American 
bishops as well as the pastors of parishes, eager for 
missions, became their fast friends. I heard Father 
Walworth say that once, there were many commun- 
ions to be given and some, to travelers from miles 
away, at a small church near Lake Erie, where there 
was no gold or silver pyx or ciborium. They had 



130 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

only one small chalice. lie formed a temporary 
ciborium from wood with his Yankee pen-knife and 
lining the bowl of it carefulh^ with a folded ^' piiri- 
ficator/^ distributed from it the Bread of Angels 
without delay to these weary wayfarers, lest they 
should grow faint with fasting. One man after walk- 
ing twenty miles to make his mission communion 
without breaking his fast, was off guard at the last 
and as he came into the village hot and thirsty drank 
from the village pump near the church. He then be- 
gan to blame himself for forgetting and was in great 
disappointment, till he learned that on the next day, 
Monday, there would be also a mass and he could 
get his communion after all by waiting for it, which 
he did. 

At the ]^ew Orleans mission Father Alexander, 
worn out with constant labor, quit the mission field 
for parish work. This was in 1854. An earnest 
youth listened to Father Walworth's sermon on the 
priesthood as preached in that city, and thinking it 
over, offered himself to the bishop for the service of 
the altar. That youth was James Gibbons now the 
Cardinal Archbishop of Baltimore, beloved of all the 
land. Father Walworth did not know how the seed 
of the divine word, he had scattered, fell thus into 
'' good ground," until he sent his volume of poems, 
^' Andiatorocte," to the cardinal. At that time he 
was made very happy by receiving in answer, a note 
of thanks, stating the above fact in a few simple 
words. In 1902, the writer of these biographical 
sketches was with her mother in a Baltimore book- 
store when they were recognized and accosted by 
Cardinal Gibbons in his own gentle and gracious 



Redemptoeist Missioner in America. 131 

manner. On this occasion, he again alluded to the 
above-mentioned fact, saying that he owed his voca- 
tion to a sermon which Father Walworth preached 
at JSTew Orleans. 

In a rectory at Cincinnati, after a mission ser- 
mon, Father Walworth, sought an introduction to 
dear old Father Badin, the jS.rst priest ordained in 
the United States, a pupil of the Maryland Sul- 
picians, and the pioneer priest of Kentucky. His 
mission reached far and wide through the wilderness, 
and his back was bent with many years of apos- 
tolic labor. The young Redemptorist knelt reverently 
before him asking his blessing. '' ]^o, no, no," said 
Father Badin, drawing away abashed, at this obei- 
sance, ^^ I cannot do that. The bishop will bless you 
again." 

" But you have been so long a missionary and I 
am only beginning. I have been looking forward to 
it, and now I must have it," said he, taking the old 
priest's hand and raising it over his head. '^ Surely 
you will not deny me a blessing." Urged also by the 
others present to comply. Father Badin put his hand 
on the bowed head, saying slowly: 

" Father Walworth, may you do all the good you 
tell other people to do." 

To him, it was the valued blessing of a true pioneer 
apostle of the faith for such to his mind was Father 
Badin. He, himself, was a pioneer in America, of 
a different method of preaching, one directed rather 
to the arousing than to the planting of the faith and 
was thus a true foundation stone, so to speak, of the 
modern parish missions in English. 



132 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

But why use halting words here when the elo- 
quent ones of Rev. Walter Elliott, C. S. P.,* spoken 
in Albany, March 21^ 1901, and printed in the 
Catholic World of the following June, as part of 
his panegyric of Father Walworth, so well describe 
the special traits and strong effects of his preaching ? 
Let this able veteran of parish missions in English 
speak once more for their pioneer. 

He, too, has broken new ground in organizing the 
missions to non-Catholics, and opened up new roads 
through old forests of colonial prejudice. He 
approaches our present subject boldly, throwing 
upon it the keen search-light of a two-fold experi- 
ence. These are his words: 

" On landing in America in 1851, Father Wal- 
worth at once displayed the powers of a great mission- 
ary. The band gave missions all over the country and 
in several cities of Canada, Father Walworth every- 
where reaping a great harvest of penitent souls. It 
is literally true that many a time, they who came 
to scoff remained to pray, aye, and what is infinitely 
more, remained to confess their sins with sobs 
of grief. The most abandoned wretches were 
melted into tears of penance under Father Wal- 
worth's preaching. His voice was marvelous. It 
was of medium pitch, clear, musical, but it had a 
quality of its own ; it was wonderfully winged as if 
with a preternatural magnetism. His sermons cut 
to the division of the soul and the spirit. His man- 
ner, though unaffected, was yet full of dignity. Sel- 
dom was a preacher so eloquent by his looks and 



* See in last pages of this book, tlie Argus report : "^ Father 
Elliott's Tribute." 



Redemptorist Missioner in America. 133 

bearing as was Father Walworth; and his action on 
the platform was a perfect match for his great 
themes, his ringing voice and his well-chosen matter. 
If one can make the distinction, he was dramatic 
without being theatrical. Meanwhile his sermons 
were models of missionary composition. Although 
he was steadfast in his loyalty to the traditions of 
St. Alphonsus, he used the liberty kindred to that 
supreme missionary's spirit in preparing his dis- 
courses. He suited his choice of matter to the 
times and the people, yet without departing from 
the sound forms of previous generations of mission- 
aries. But he could drive the fear of God into sin- 
ners' souls with more resistless force than, perhaps, 
any missionary we ever had in America. His ser- 
mons broke the adamantine crust of self-assurance 
which vice had formed over the sinners' hearts like 
an egg-shell. 

^' His voice was the best preaching voice I ever 
heard. Father Walworth had a voice that could stop 
an army; but he had a heart of grace to inspire his 
tones with priestly tenderness. He could both af- 
fright sinners and soothe their despairins^ spirits 
with that organ of many strains. We have empha- 
sized his imperious power over his hearers, but it 
should be known that if he vanquished the sinner, 
he did not fail to win him. The effect was religious 
fear not slavish terror. The psalmist's words describe 
it: ^AU my bones shall say, who is like unto the 
Lord ? ' We might add the words of the bride in 
the Canticle : ' My heart melted when he spoke.*" 
To be afraid under his preaching was to be afraid 
of God not of the preacher. !Nor would the most 
panic-stricken of Walworth's converted sinners dread 



134 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

to go to him to confession. The most abandoned 
wretches after sitting under his preaching, pale and 
nerveless with terror, would often enter his confes- 
sional hj preference. They had felt something of 
love vibrating amid the commanding tones of that 
voice. * * *. 

'^ Father Walworth had the true standpoint of a 
missionary. He not only knew but he vividly real- 
ized that he stood for God. He was thrilled with 
the conviction that men's immortal destiny depended 
on how fitly he represented God's rights to their 
sinful souls. It is this state of mind, this mental, 
or rather this spiritual, attitude that really makes the 
missionary. It made Walworth an ideal one. He 
impressed the sinners not so much as an advocate as 
an ambassador of Christ, an ambassador bearing the 
Divine ultimatum. This sense of standing for God 
did infinitely more for his success than the noble 
beauty of his face and form, his splendid rhetoric, 
the amazing strength of action in his delivery. His 
tones were the perfection of human vocal power but 
they rang with a more than human power in the 
service of a heart inspired as his was. By the exhi- 
bition of this supernatural motive it was that many 
were led to say that they never knew a man who had 
so fully assimilated the rules of the divine art of 
winning sinful souls to God, as Father Walworth." 

Some of his mission sermons, in manuscript, vv'^ere 
made up of brief notes and abbreviations; others 
were more fully worded ; they cover a wide range of 
subjects. One is " On the Seventh Command- 
ment " and has a marked individuality of its own, 
especially owing to the " List of 40 Thieves," that 



E.EDEMPTORIST MlSSIOI^EE IN AmEEICA. 135 

accompanied it. This list consisted of a strip of 
paper four inches wide and about two yards long, 
on which he had written forty groups of thieves, the 
description of each class occupying from two to 
twelve lines. It caused considerable interest to his 
auditors when he gradually unfolded this paper, let- 
ting it drop down over the pulpit till it hung like a 
wide ribbon from his hands as he concluded the read- 
ing of it. Much amused were the people, as he 
started off with the petty thieves thus : ^^1. Hen 
thieves, duck thieves, goose and turkey thieves, pig 
thieves/' which with others in the next group includ- 
ing purse-lifters, he called '^ out-and-out thieves ;'' 
but there were always plenty of serious faces before 
the other end of the long roll came in view. All kinds 
of service, domestic and clerical, all varieties of busi- 
ness, crafts and professions, were reached in due 
course as conducted on land and on sea, till the ex- 
amination of conscience became general throughout 
his audience. He mercilessly dubbed the unwary 
sinners before him according to their degrees by suc]^ 
names as nibblers, house-mice, shop-mice, church- 
mice, water-rats, cheats, including dishonest debtors 
and a pack of ordinary thieves ; then came the craw- 
fish, the rodentia; and, finally, the magnificent 
swindlers, all held up to view under the term PacJiy- 
dermata or hard-skinners. He concluded his list 
with all cheats of higher rank, those unfaithful 
whether more or less to the most honorable of trusts, 
in civic, financial, legal and legislative careers. But 
the sermon itself he concluded, after a thrilling ap- 
peal for justice and especially to the poor, with the 
story of Zacheus who restored four fold, before har- 
boring the Lord Jesus. 



136 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

Another sermon is entitled, " Tlie Excellence of 
the Priesthood/' This is not a nsual subject for a 
mission. It must have been evoked by the presence, 
in the congregation addressed, of souls already well- 
trained in faith and morals who gave uncommon 
promise of an abundant spiritual harvest. There is 
nothing about the manuscript notes to show where 
this sermon was first preached, but there is reason 
to believe it was used with great effect at ]^ew 
Orleans. It is a good example of his method of pre- 
paring a subject, when time was not wanting and 
eyesight was good. The handwriting in this case is 
small, round and upright; as even as print, as clear 
and fine as copperplate engraving. The words are 
closely written on a sheet of commercial note, with 
two lines of his to every one that was ruled by the 
stationer. Perhaps he wrote it thus, that he might 
carry it with him to the pulpit. But, oh! for the 
wave of " a vanished hand, and the sound of a voice 
that is still ! " — for the surf-like recurrence of 
weighty arguments rolling onto the soul like an in- 
coming tide ; the eagle glance, the winning smile, the 
majesty of his presence, the magnetism of his sym- 
pathy! These are with us no more. These would 
put life and the throb of oratory into what is here 
left, the mere structural dry-bones of a great sermon ! 
Even so, they can yet give us some food for thought, 
and indicate the general outline of the argument. 
Since it was a sermon of his that determined the 
priestly vocation of Cardinal Gibbons, what other 
could it be than this one ? 



REDEMPTOFtlST MlSSIONER IN AmeBICA. 137 

THE EXCELLENCE OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 

"As long as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor 
my ministry, if by any means, I may provoke to emulation 
those loho a/re my flesh." — Rom. xi. 13. 

There is one branch of service in the army wh. is cer- 
tainly a very important one. It is that of a recruiting officer. 
{Describe his duty.) It is in this same spirit that the 
Apostle speaks in the text. As a commanding officer in the 
army of the cross, he looks about him for recruits, & not 
out of self-respect, but for the glory of his Master, & the 
success of the Church's holy war, he seeks to muster recruits 
— new soldiers — under the banner of the cross, into the 
sacred ministry. Was there ever a time when the Church, 
when our country more needed Priests — good ones, true 
warriors, &c. ? Permit me then to " honor my ministry " this 
morning, that if possible, " / may provoke to emulation " 
those who are of my flesh, dc. 

I. Dignitas Sacerdotii. 

St. Ambrose preaching on the Priesthood calls it '' a divine 
profession." Is it not! The Priest is 

1st. {The Ambassador of God.) An ambassador is an officer 
of a State or Prince, sent out to represent his Sovereign 
abroad. '*' We are ambassadors for Christ, God as it were 
exhorting by us. 2 Cor. v. 20. I remember, &e. (Frescoes of 
Moses and St. Paul, St. Vincent's, Canal St.) How appro- 
priate they appeared in such a place! & how grand! To 
either, one could well apply those majestic words of a poetess 
of our day: 

" His eyes were dreadful, for you saw 
That they saw God — his lip and joajo 
Grand-made and strong, as Sinai's Law, — 
And his brow's height was sovereign.'' 

They were only mute frescoes, & yet they spoke right elo- 
quently. " We are ambassadors for Christ," they said, " God, 
as it were, exhorting by us." 

The Ambassador represents his Sovereign — his person & 
his will. And therefore, according to the Law of Nations, &c. 



138 Life Sketches o-f Fathee Walworth. 

So in the Law of Christ, " qui vos audit, me audit; qui vos 
spernit me spernit." How much more blessed & exalted to 
be Ambassador of God! What are princes and nations com- 
pared to Him? "Omnes gentes quasi non sint coram eo." 

2nd. {The Minister of the Sacrifice.) This is the chief func- 
tion of the Priest. Look around this church & tell me 
which is the part where the Priest belongs, — is most the 
Priest's? Your eyes turn to the altar. There is one part 
of the church set off, where the Laity do not enter, & all 
who do — approach silently & with awe. We seem to hear 
the voice of God : " Take thy shoes from off thy feet, for," &c. 
It is the place of sacrifice. We have there a victim to offer. 
Who shall offer ? One of you ? No, you could not. " Nee 
quis quam sumit sihi," &c. He would not come at your call. 
But the Priest approaches & at his voice, &c. No wonder 
that St. Augustine exclaims : " ! veneranda Sacerdotum dig- 
nitas! in quorum manihus Dei Filius veluti in utero Virginis 
incarnatur." Horn. 2 on Ps. 32. 

I need not dwell on this. You all feel the dignity of the 
Priesthood. The faithful Priest will never have reason to 
complain, &c. — But if there is anything above all others cal- 
culated to draw forth the deep feeling of veneration which 
every Catholic, &c., — it is the spectacle of a bad Priest. 
How ! what ! — Yes ; otherwise, what is the meaning of that 
shudder — that electric thrill of horror ? It is no sign of 
irreverence. Oh! no, the contrary. It is your testimony to 
the dignity & sanctity of the Priestly office. At the mere 
thought of such a thing, the language of the Prophet Isaias 
rises to the heart : " In terra 88. iniqua gessit." He has 
sinned in the Holy place ! " Non videhit gl. Dei." 

If there be in this concourse, a parent who nourishes the 
secret hope to see, &c. — It is a good desire. But if that 
child be not holy, if he be grown up in vice — Oh ! speak not 
of it! Think not of it! Set your Avhole soul against it; pray 
rather that the Earth may open, &c. — Would you have it 
said of him : " In terra 8anctorum — non videhit f " 



Redemptoeist Missioi^ee ii^ Ameeica. 139 

II. — Utilitas Sacerdotii. 

St. Jerome calls it "Angelica Dignitas." And so it is. For 
what are the angels? "Are they not all spirits, sent to 
minister for those who shall receive the inheritance of salva- 
tion?'' Heb. I. 14. Why, see them at work! 

1st. — (Penance.) See him in the Sacred Tribunal! The hurt 
child runs to hide his griefs in his father's bosom. So the 
hurt sinner, &c. And why there? Because the power of par- 
don is there. Ah! the Utilitarians! They talk of nothing 
but utility. Principle is nothing — right, truth, justice & 
God. Well go try to be useful to that heavy-hearted Sinner! 
You will do him no good. He wants you not. He will say 
to you, as Macbeth to his physician: 

''Say, canst thou minister to a mind diseased! 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow: 
Cleanse the full bosom of that perilous stuff, 
Which iveighs upon the heart?" 

No ! There is only one ear can hear that secret, one breast be 
the confidant of that sorrow, one hand can pluck away that 
thorn, one voice can cheer that drooping soul. It is the voice 
of the Priest which alone can say: "Ego te ahsolvo." Is there 
utility here? 

2nd. — {The Pulpit.) How necessary is good counsel? A 
friendly but truthful voice that will not flatter. Where will 
you find it, &c. — But the pulpit is the Throne of Truth. You 
wish it to be so, however unpalatable. [If I were to put it 
to vote — ! "Oh! let us have one place, where God's truth 
is spoken icithout fear."] Is it not a blessed thing to have 
one such truthful oracle, where the Orator is not expected to 
flatter, and dares to blame ? " Labia enim Sacerdotis cus- 
todient scientiam, et Legem requirent ex ore ejus, quia An- 
gelus Dei exercituum est." Mai. II. 7. They will not find fault 
with him for speaking plainly. Oh! never till we hear the 
Records of the Judgment shall we know how many souls have 
thus been brought to God! 

( Conclusion. ) 
Is it not a blessed office! Can there be a higher, holier, 
more useful, nobler vocation? My Brethren, in this country 
we need Priests. Here & now, if ever. But we need good 



140 Life Sketches o-f Father Walworth. 

ones only; priests trained to virtue & high, morality in 
their Father's house, priests reared by a pious Mother's hand. 
Families in which low vices reign, cursing & blasphemy & 
lighting & intemperance, & gambling; where prayer is 
seldom heard & religious duties are neglected: — these are 
not the nurseries of good Priests; for it is hard to have a 
higher standard of morality & piety than that in which we 
have been reared. To whom then shall we appeal for re- 
cruits to the clergy? To you, Fathers & Mothers, whose 
children have been reared amidst prayers and tears, holy 
precepts & example, & unwearied solicitudes! You have 
reared them for God; give them to God, when he needs them 
most — now & here ; now when the harvest is so great & 
the laborers are so few. Christian Mothers! will you be out- 
done by worldly women? — [Ex.: Mothers during this war: 
"My Son! see there your country's flag! Take just a 
Mother's kiss, d then go do your duty ! "^ So Christian 
Mothers, &c. — 

And you. My Brethren, who have no children to give — give 
your prayers! Do you not wish for an active & zealous 
priesthood ? Pray that we may be so. [Ex. : The song, " 80- 
garth Aroon."] Oh! if you love God; if you love the church; 
if you love the triumph of Christ's holy cause; if you love 
to hear of sinners converted to God, unbelievers brought into 
the fold ; if you love your own souls — Pray for us ! " 



VIII. 

ONE OF THE PAULIST FATHERS. 
A Remarkable Cluster of Converts. 

One day when Father Walworth was at the Re- 
demptorist convent in Baltimore, he was accosted bj 
a tall, erect yonng officer in the nniform of the regu- 
lar army. His eyes were keen and dark, of the 
kind that could look both stern and gentle. At that 
moment, he was gazing with frank interest at the 
face and garb of the American Eedemptorist before 
him, and at the large crucifix in his girdle. Then he 
spoke, saying he had come to see one of the fathers 
whom he named. He asked where and when he 
could be seen. 

Father Walworth gave him this information and 
soon learned that their military visitor was George 
Deshon, Lieutenant Ordnance, U. S. A., who had 
come to apply for admission to the Congregation of 
St. Alphonsus. He had been recently received into 
the Catholic Church by the Jesuits, and wished to 
become a priest. 

^' But how is it. Lieutenant," said Father Wal- 
worth, whose propensity to get at bottom facts 
had long since, as we have seen, won him the title 
from Belgian comrades of Brother Pourquoi, — ^^ how 
is it that the Jesuits did not keep you for their own 
novitiate, when once they had made you a Catholic ? 
They would surely appreciate the educational ad- 
vantages you had at West Point ? Did you tell them 
you intended to become a priest ? '' 



142 Life. Sketches O'F Fathee Walworth. 

"' Yes," was tlie answer, " and they were willing 
to receive me on trial as a novice. It is a fine order. 
I like them very much. But it is not the order for 
me." 

'' Why not ? " 

" Because the Jesuits teach. They have so many 
colleges they would put me to teaching the first 
thing. I have done some of that already at West 
Point, since I graduated. I want to he a priest, — 
not to teach students, but to preach the Gospel to the 
people ; and that, as I understand it, is what you Re- 
demptorists are doing all the time, isn't it % " 

" Yes," said Father Walworth, '' there is no doubt 
about that." And so this comrade and roommate 
of General Ulysses S. Grant decided to become a R^- 
demptorist, being destined later to serve in his turn 
as Superior-General of the Paulists. 

Father Hewit tells us in his Memoir of Rev. 
Francis A. Baker, of an eventful meeting of two 
other converts who were Paulists founders, in that 
very same convent of the Pedemptorists at Balti- 
more. It was the day Father Baker resigned the 
Episcopal parish of St. Luke in that city and be- 
came a Catholic. These are Father Hewit's words: 
"After a long and consoling conversation with the 
Archbishop, he came over to St. Alphonsus' Church 
which is near the Cathedral, to see me. I was mak- 
ing a retreat that day (April 5, 1853) and was 
walking in the garden, when a message was sent 
me by the rector to go to the parlor to see Mr. 
Baker. As soon as he saw me, he said abruptly, ^ I 
have come to be one of you.' I invited him inside 
the enclosure, and he fancying I misunderstood his 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 143 

words to imply that he was ready to join our re- 
ligious congregation, answered quickly, ' I do not 
mean that I wish to become a Redemptorist, but a 
Catholic' ^ I understand that/ I replied ; ^ let us 
go to the oratory and recite a Te Deum of thanks- 
giving.' We did SO:, and then walked in the garden 
together for a short time. The first time I ever saAv 
an expression of real joyfiilness in his countenance 
was then. He was always placid, but never, so far 
as I could see, joyous, before he became a Catholic. 
To my great surprise, he chose me as his confessor. 
I left the time of his reception to himself, and he 
chose Saturday, the 9th of April, which was the 
anniversary of the death of his brother Alfred. On 
Saturday morning, I said Mass in the little chapel 
of the Orphan Asylum of the Sisters of Charity. 
Father Hecker, who was present on account of the 
approaching mission, accompanied me to the chapel. 
After Mass, Mr. Baker made his profession, accord- 
ing to the old form, containing the full creed of 
Pius ly, and I received him into the bosom of the 
Church, ^o others were present besides the good 
sisters and their little children. * * * , April 
17, he was confirmed in the Cathedral by Arch- 
bishop Kenrick, and received his first communion 
from his hand. 

" The conversion of Mr. Baker made a great sen- 
sation in Baltimore, and wherever he was knowm." 

He soon decided to become a Redemptorist and, in 
1856, he and Father Deshon received directions to 
join the other three Americans in giving missions. 
Here then we have in united action the original 
band of Paulist founders, ^yq converts trained under 



144 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the rule of St. Alphonsus. In the winter of 1856, 
before the old plantation days were disturbed by 
civil war, they were all to be seen together, preach- 
ing a great mission at the Savannah Cathedral. At 
that time, as Father Hewit informs us in his Memoir 
of Father Baker, the southern to^Tis received the 
debris of foreign immigration, and were filled in 
winter by a floating population of northern laborers. 
Thus it happened that Savannah, that beautiful city 
of parks and homes, had suburbs crowded with 
drinking-shops, sailors' boarding-houses and dens of 
thieves and smugglers. The missionaries divided 
the city into ^ve different districts each taking one. 
They visited all, even unto the most uncanny nooks 
and corners, announcing the mission, and gathering 
in the sinners. 

Father Walworth has described to the author of 
these sketches a dram-shop scene in which he 
figured on this occasion. He had permission from 
the proprietor of a certain den of iniquity, won by 
persuasive words, to announce the preaching hours 
to its patrons. As he concluded a brief summary of 
what the exercises at the Cathedral would be and was 
giving an urgent invitation to those present to be on 
hand, a half-drunken fellow, with a wink at his pals 
who were following his lead, came threateningly 
tow^ard him, using abusive words. Before their mis- 
chief had time to brew, the observant missioner 
stepped quickly to the bar and gave it a thump that 
made the glasses jump and jingle. Then he said in 
that clear ringing voice of his, as he faced the whole 
roomful and singled out with his keen eyes a brawny 
son of Erin : " I want to know if a Catholic priest 
has any friends here." 



Ois^E OF THE Paulist Fathers. 145 

'^ Yes, Father, I'm one," said the young Irish- 
man, donbling up his fist as he came forward and 
planted himself in front of the obtruder: ''Stand 
off, you blackguard," he continued, '' have you no 
respect for his Reverence ?" 

" And so am I," said another. 

^' And I," said a third, a hitherto silent observer 
who stood in the doorway. '^ I'm no Catholic, but 
I've seen a man die happier for having a priest by 
him. ^ow, sir, if you'll please to tell us a little more 
about it than I was able to hear w^hile that uncivil 
fellow was interrupting, I'll see if I can't be there. 
I'd like to hear that sermon of yours." 

The tide was turned. He had a respectful hearing 
as long as he chose to address them, and the major- 
ity promised to be at the Cathedral on the coming 
Sunday, for the opening of the mission. 

As to the result of these painstaking efforts, 
Father Hewit adds : ''I had a good opportimity to 
judge of its permanent fruits when two years after- 
ward I returned there and went through the same 
quarters of the town where we had gone to drum up 
the people to the mission, in making a collection for 
the new congregation of St. Paul. Many of the 
poorest dwellings I found neat and orderly; the 
pious pictures blessed during the mission hanging 
upon the walls; the children clean and tidy; some- 
times an old man sit tins- at the door reading the 
mission-book ; the wives and mothers evidently cheer- 
ful and contented, the best sign that their husbands 
were sober and kind; the expressions of grateful re- 
membrance of the mission, warm and frequent ; the 
signs of moral improvement everywhere, and the 
church crowded on Sunday." 



146 Life Sketches o-f Father Walworth. 

The missionaries then divided into two bands for 
the smaller parishes of the diocese. Father Wal- 
worth went to Macon, Columbus and Atlanta, he 
and his companion rejoining the other three at 
Charleston, where crowds gathered into the Cathe- 
dral to hear them. In a letter, December 31, 1856, 
to "a Catholic paper in Charleston from a non- 
Catholic of Macon, it was said : "' A number of 
Protestant gentlemen called upon Mr. Walworth yes- 
terday, and urgently requested him to deliver one 
more sermon before his departure, which he con- 
sented to do this evening.'' 

Thus the work of breaking down prejudice went 
ever on simultaneously with the gathering in of 
abandoned sinners. '^ In our judgment," wrote 
Father Elliott, in his Life of Father Hecker, " those 
men were a band of missionaries, the like of whom 
have not served the great cause among the English- 
speaking races these recent generations." 

Meanwhile, Father Hecker had written two books, 
the " Questions of the Soul," and the " Aspirations 
of i^ature," and Father Walworth had edited a 
prayer book in English, '^ The Mission Book," which 
was the one Father Hewit saw in use at Savannah 
in 1858. Chancellor Walworth had received a letter 
from his elder son, dated June 20, 1853, in which 
he wrote : '^ I am now at 'New York, where I am 
come to superintend the publication of a book of 
prayer. This will keep me here some four or ^Ye 
weeks, if not longer. ^ * *, j ^vas not able to 
see Eliza during her visit to Baltimore lately. Mr. 
Backus left a card at our house with his name and 
hers, but I was in the seminary giving a retreat to 



One of the Paulist Fathees. 147 

the priests of the diocese, which kept me incessantly 
occupied during the whole day. I wrote him a note 
asking how long they would stay, hut received 
answer that they were going the next morning. I 
would have visited them very gladly. I suppose 
mother told you all about the flying visit she made 
at Baltimore." 

This was the stepmother, to whom he and his 
brother became much attached, and who afterward 
became a Catholic. But this conversion in the fire- 
side circle did not take place till an entire page of 
birth and baptismal records of Catholic Walworths 
had been entered in a Sadlier's Douay Bible, the 
family record of which begins thus : '^ Mansfield T. 
Walworth, married to Ellen Hardin July 29th, 
1852, by Kev. C. A. Walworth, C. S. S. K. at St. 
Peter's Church, Saratoga Springs, E". Y." A 
daughter of this marriage, a namesake and god- 
child of Father Walworth, christened Clara Teresa, 
was destined for the religious life. She entered the 
Order of the Sacred Heart, and in due time made 
her vows at the Kenwood novitiate near Albany, in 
the presence of her godfather and other relatives. 
The happiness and usefulness of this niece in her 
chosen vocation was in the coming years to be 
counted among the sunset joys of his life. 

During his missionary career as Redemptorist and 
Paulist, in all about fifteen years, he occasionally 
visited Saratoga, but not often enough to suit his 
father's wishes. In one of his letters home, he thus 
excuses himself in a semi-humorous way: 

My Dear Father — I must apologize for not answering 
immediately your very welcome letter. It found me, however, 
in the midst of a laborious retreat, which is just ended. T 



148 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

not only know but feel that it is a long time since I have met 
friends so verj'^ dear to me as those who still cling about the 
old homestead, but you know something of my circumstances. 
You know how it is when a young man marries an old wife 
(mine is now eighteen centuries old, and far gone in her nine- 
teenth.) It is hard to get out of leading strings. I have so 
much work on hand preparing for the fall campaign that I 
sometimes get discouraged thinking of it, especially Avhen I 
consider the very little amount of intellectual steam I am 
able to turn on. 

Father Walwortii, as well as Father Baker, with 
his driving American energy, was already wearing 
away his strength more than he realized. '^ The 
average duration of a career of continuous mis- 
sionary labor in Europe/' wrote Father Hewit, '^ is 
only ten years.'' He was calling attention to the 
fact that Father Baker, a man of delicate tempera- 
ment and unused in early life to hardships, had un- 
dergone eight years of this arduous work before he 
died. For many more years than that Father Wal- 
worth incessantly expended his energies in the same 
zealous way, but even his magnificent equipment 
of brain and muscle quivered at last under the long 
strain, and brain fever resulted. He, too, might have 
died, if the strong outreaching love of his equally 
energetic father had not sought him, enwrapped him 
so to speak when he was almost at the last gasp, and 
transplanted him to the invigorating air of far-famed 
Saratoga. There the precious invalid was slowly 
coaxed back into life and strength amid the com- 
forts of a long-established home. After that he 
lived on to serve his native diocese of Albany as a 
parish priest, and his native State of 'New York as 
an outspoken, public-spirited citizen, even unto the 



One of the Paulist Fatheks. 149 

end of the nineteenth centiiiy. Thus he spent more 
than twice as many years as he had previously spent 
in the life of a missioner. 

When his father went down to visit him in his 
illness, he found him at the original house of the 
Paulist Fathers in Fifty-ninth street. He lay in the 
rectory of what was then a raw^, up-town ^ew York 
parish. The region was indented here and there 
with neglected malarial pools. Its newdy-opened' 
streets were but partially graded and drained. They 
ended abruptly in a rocky, shantytown of squatter? 
and goats. Close by were the unkempt southern con- 
fines of a newly planned park. Many laughed at its 
name, Central Park, for it was as far as it could well 
be from the center of the city. But these were re- 
minded that, at least, it was in the middle of Man- 
hattan Island. ]N^ow it is our turn to smile at the 
" pert criticisers ^' of those days, seeing how the city 
has outgrown its island. It takes but one short half- 
hour of our twentieth century to turn its 30,000 up- 
town children into this superb park for a glorious 
May-day frolic ! 

What were the Paulist Fathers trying to do a half, 
century ago among those rocky suburbs ? And how 
had they ceased to be Redemptorists ? These ques- 
tions, reasonable enough from those unfamiliar with 
our subject, may thus be briefly answered. They 
were trying, first of all, to do good, just as they had 
been all along in their priestly ofiices to mankind. 
They were also succeeding in their endeavors about 
as well as ever. They were laying the foundations 
of their magnificent temple of religion, since reared 
to the glory of God under the name of that 
prince of itinerant preachers, St. Paul the Apostle. 



150 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

This task called out great and latent energies in 
George Deshon. Besides this they were all taking 
turns at missions in the English language, given 
with unabating fervor, in many States. At this 
apostolic labor Augustin He wit, the "^ old iron-grey '' 
of the missions, was often in the lead, with his 
Jonathan, Francis Baker, close by him. They were 
receiving converts all the while. These Paulists 
were also teaching the Catholics of America new 
ways in which the printing press could be used to 
spread the true faith. They were gathering zealous 
young disciples, American to the core. It was in 
these things above all that the genial heart of Isaac 
Hecker rejoiced. A tireless reader of men rather 
than books, a great lecturer and conversationalist, 
and at the same time a man of deep spiritual in- 
sight, he became the center of a constellation of 
bright minds. Among these, Tillottson, an accom- 
plished child of the Hudson, who came to him by 
way of l^ewman^s Oratory, Young the musician, and 
Searle, the astronomer, were, from their first ap- 
pearance at St. Paul's, recognized as stars of the 
first magnitude. Light answered light intellectu- 
ally, and fire kindled fire spiritually, till the world 
about them awoke to the fact that a new spiritual 
family had grown up among them. A new and 
unique influence was radiating abroad with increas- 
ing force from that plain little home-nest of the 
Paulist Fathers in Fifty-ninth street. 

And what did Father Hecker hope to do with 
this new community ? To convert the nation, 
neither more nor less, an enterprise truly American 
in its vastness. His associates were no less Ameri- 



Oj^e of the Paulist Fathers. 151 

can in their conservative, law-abiding liabits of life. 
All the strong national characteristics were from the 
first represented in force among them. All these 
early recruits were happy in having found the true 
faith, and anticipated greater happiness in spread- 
ing it. 

How had the Paulist founders ceased to be Re- 
demptorists ? Here is the answer in a nutshell for 
chance readers. Others may secure fuller informa- 
tion from archives of the communities themselves. 
Our purpose plows not so deep. Father Hecker had 
started off to Rome in the summer of 1857 to con- 
vince the head of his order that a new house of 
English speaking Redemptorists was necessary in 
America. This was done with his innate impul- 
siveness and with truly American haste. When his 
'^ ship " was '' on the sea '' and his " bark " was ^^ on 
the shore," so to speak, his generous brother 
promptly tossed him a purse full of gold. Father 
Hecker telegraphed at the last moment to Baltimore, 
where his Eedemptorist comrades were giving a mis- 
sion. These, if my memory serves rightly in re- 
porting Father Walworth's verbal account of it, 
were the words of his telegram : '' Provincial trem- 
bles, shall I go ? " To friends familiar with his 
trend of thought and quick methods, these words 
were quite sufficient. In intervals between one mis- 
sion exercise and another the three fathers, Wal- 
worth, Hewit and Deshon, put their heads together 
to read it over, and coincided in the opinion that 
the rule of St. Alphonsus permitted a direct ap- 
peal to their superior at Pome. Then in no less 
American haste they signed their names to an an- 



152 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

swering telegram whicih consisted of tlie one word: 
^'Go.'' 

Father Hecker did go, at once. But there was 
no rapid transit at Rome in those days, as these 
xlmericans found out during several perplexing 
months that followed. The exceeding kindness of 
the Holy Father, nevertheless, and his paternal in- 
terest in every detail of their apostolic work, en- 
deared him forever to their hearts. He, in his wis- 
dom, found a way of imcoupling and switching off 
their particular car from the heavy, international 
through train of the Redemptorists, and allowing 
them to get up steam on their own account, whether 
individually or collectively, under the supervision 
of their American bishops. Many of these, in whose 
dioceses they had labored, highly indorsed them, 
prominent among whom was James Roosevelt 
Bailey, afterwards Metropolitan of Baltimore. Be- 
sides, they found they had fast friends in Arch- 
bishop Hughes of ^ew York, and in Cardinal Bar- 
nabo of the Propaganda at Rome. The decree that 
established the status of these five sacerdotal converts, 
so self-sacrificing in zeal, came to them after seven 
months of uncertainty. During that time the four 
in Aiiierica, with unabated energy, gave missions 
under obedience to their immediate Redemptorist 
superiors. Father Walworth, meanwhile, as senior 
priest, leading the band. Fifteen ^^ large and suc- 
cessful '' missions are mentioned by Father Hewit 
as given during those months in the States of ^ew 
Jersey, Delaware, Vermont and ^ew York.* The 



* For the names of the cities and parishes, see " Memoir of 
Rev. F. A. Baker," New York, Cath. Pub. Soc. Co., Ed. 1889, 
(Page 172). 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 153 

decree so long expected was issued at last from a 
Roman Bureau, that of the Congregation of Bishops 
and RegTilars. The words of this decree, trans- 
lated from the Latin, are as follows : 

Certain priests of the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer in the United States of North America recently 
presented their most humble petition to our ]\Iost Holy Lord 
Pope, Pius IX, that in view of certain special reasons, he 
would grant that they might be withdrawn from the authority 
and jurisdiction of the Rector Major and be governed by a su- 
perior of their own, immediately subject to the Apostolic See, 
and according to the Rule approved by Benedict XIV, of holy 
memory. If, however, this should not be granted to them, 
they most humbly asked for dispensation from their vows in 
the said Congregation. After having carefully considered the 
matter, it appeared to His Holiness that a separation of this 
kind would be prejudicial to the unity of the CongTegation 
and by no means accord with the Institute of St. Alphonsus, 
and therefore should uot be permitted. Since, however, it 
was represented to His Holiness that the petitioners spare no 
labor in the prosecution of the holy missions, in the con- 
version of souls, and in the dissemination of Christian Doc- 
trine, and are for this reason commended by many bishops, 
it seemed more expedient to His Holiness to withdraw them 
from the said Congregation, that they might apply them- 
selves to the prosecution of the works of the sacred ministry 
under the direction of the local bishops. Wherefore His 
Holiness by the tenor of this decree, and by his Apostolic 
authority, does dispense from their simple vows and from that 
of permanence in the Congi'egation the said priests, viz.: 
Clarence Walworth, Augxistine Hewit, Greorge Deshon, and 
Francis Baker, together with the priest Isaac Hecker who has 
joined himself to their petition in respect to dispensation 
from the vows, and declares them to be dispensed and entirely 
released so that they no longer belong to the said Congrega- 
tion. And His Holiness confidently trusts that under the di- 
rection and jurisdiction of the local bishops according to the 
prescription of the sacred Canons, the above mentioned priests 
will labor by work, example and word in the vineyard of the 



154 Life Sketches O'F Father Walwoeth. 

Lord and give themselves with alacrity to the eternal salva- 
tion of souls, and promote with all their power the sanctifi- 
cation of their neighbors. 

Given at Rome, in the office of the Sacred Congregation of 
Bishops and Regulars, the 6th day of March, 1858. 

[L. S.] G. CARDINAL della GENGA, Prefect. 

A. Archbishop of Philippi, Secretary. 

The Panlists and Redemptorists have always been 
on friendly terms, as Father Hewit, when superior, 
officially stated. 

Father Hecker, whilst in Eome, talked with the 
Holy Father about a name for the new congregation 
that might be started in America by the priests named 
in the above decree. He mentioned St. Panl, it 
seems, as a patron they would be glad to have, accord- 
ing at least to a current account of the conversation. 
Then Pope Pius IX told him of an order of preachers 
at Rome under that patronage which was already 
formed. Their church is near the scene of the saint's 
martyrdom and they are dedicated in honor of that 
event to San Paoli Decapita, St. Paul Beheaded! 
" P'erhaps," suggested he, " the American fathers 
would like to join them." " Oh, no," exclaimed 
Father Hecker hastily, '^ that name. Holy Father, 
would never do in America ! We must have St. 
Paul with his head on !" 

'' Bravo ! " said the Pope, much entertained with 
his impulsiveness. " Have him with his head on if 
you prefer. You will be entirely free to settle such 
matters among yourselves, subject only to your own 
bishops. Begin your work, figlio mio, you have my 
blessing." 

Thereupon Father Hecker proceeded to America, 
and soon became Superior of the Congregation of 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 155 

St. Paul the Apostle, in the State of ISTew York, 
presiding for many years thereafter over the com- 
munity in Fifty-ninth street. 

His activities there have attracted the attention 
of religious minds in two continents. Puhlic com- 
ment on defective translations from a biography that 
unfolds his individual " inner life " in a masterful 
way promptly called forth Pope Leo's luminous let- 
ter on ^'Americanism." The writer of these lines 
read aloud to Father Walworth leisurely in the even- 
ings, first that memorable biography of Isaac Hecker 
as it appeared from time to time in the pages of the 
Catholic World, and later the Pope's letter. The 
former w^as of very great interest to him. It was a 
never to be forgotten treat, also, to his amanuensis to 
have, viva voce, his running commentary on it. The 
latter gave him intense delight. '^ Lumen de 
Coelof" he exclaimed several times, in strong, 
sweet accents, during the reading of the Pope's 
words. Sentence after sentence was reread and 
marked, as for future use. That Encyclical was, 
indeed, a touching proof of the great love of 
Leo XIII for America. 

Father Walworth's most frequent comment as he 
listened month after month to the many extracts 
from his old friend's journal was : '^ That's 
Hecker's Hecker ! " Now and then, as the read- 
ing of the text proceeded, he said emphatically: 
'' That's Elliott's Hecker ! " He keenly relished 
Oliver Wendell Holmes' idea of six persons* being 



* When the hungry boarder heard the "Autocrat " explain that 
in " John " there are " Thomas's John, John's John and the real 
John," he appropriated three peaches, saying : " Here, then, is just one 
apiece for me." None were left for Thomas or the Autocrat. 



156 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

present whenever two are conversing, not forgetting 
the hungry boarder's application of it as to the 
peaches. These brief remarks of his intimated an 
opinion that '' the real Hecker/' in all his propor- 
tions, is yet to be shown when a fuller record shall 
be published of his many good deeds. Let us hope, 
as he did, for a sequel to the biography which will 
give us more in detail the multiform activities of 
this typical and therefore practical American. 
Then all America may read of him, not only as seer, 
author and preacher, but as founder, provider, at- 
tendant upon the sick, publisher, editor, lecturer 
and actual governor, as well as marvelous persuader, 
of men. ^^ By their fruits ye shall know them,'' 
beyond all possibility of misunderstanding. 

Father Walworth and Father Hecker together 
once enjoyed a lengthy conversation with Oliver 
Wendell Holmes. It was at Cambridge, whither 
they had gone for the purpose of preaching a mis- 
sion. Father Walworth said afterward that Mr. 
Holmes made him think of his own description of 
^^ Little Boston " as he sat swinging his finger at 
them whilst he chatted with them. Later he had oc- 
casion to send Mr. Holmes two of his books as they 
appeared and received a gratifying letter each time 
in response. These were his volume of poems, 
^'Andiatoracte," and the " Gentle Skeptic." He 
wrote the last-mentioned book while he was a Paul- 
ist, though he had gathered the geological material 
for it earlier, in company with his scientific friend, 
James Hall, who was for fifty years Geologist of the 
State of 'New York. At the time of his trip to 
Boston, Father Walworth was full of his subject, 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 157 

which dealt with the foundation proofs of Christian- 
ity, and the so-called contradictions between the 
Bible and new science. In his ^^ Gentle Skeptic/' 
the author assumed the character of a country jus- 
tice, with a theological bent, by the name of John 
Bird (this was a nom de plume he often used after- 
ward in newspapers). From that point of view he 
discussed in his work science and religion, with a 
depth of thought and scope that was fully twenty- 
five years in advance of the popular mind as to the 
relations of those two subjects, i^o wonder that a 
man like Oliver Wendell Holmes listened with in- 
terest to what he had to say, as is shown by this 
letter : 

To Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, 
21 Charles st. 

Boston, May 25tli, 1863. 

My Deah Sir — I liave delayed thanking you for your kind- 
ness in sending me " The Gentle Skeptic *' only because I did 
not know your address. 

I have read a good deal of it, and without professing to be 
convinced, I own that the pleasant temper in which it is 
written at least secures it a fair hearing. I have a great 
deal to learn, I doubt not, about Catholicism, and as, even 
in my view your church has been the ark in which Christianity 
and civilization have preserved and still preserve many of 
their most precious treasures, I consider it a privilege to have 
made the acquaintance of yourself and your brother in service, 
Father Hecker. Please remember me to him and say to him 
how much I enjoyed the talks we had together, and how much 
edification I get from some of his short discourses, in the 
volume he was good enough to send me. 

Believe me, my dear Sir, 

Yours with great respect, 

O. W. HOLMES. 



158 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

Professor Agassiz, the naturalist, on one occasion 
spent the greater part of a morning with Father 
Walworth showing him the ethnological museum he 
was gathering, and learned from him St. Augustine's 
theory of the creation. He was surprised to hear that 
so early a writer had opposed the literal interpreta- 
tion which ascribed it to six days exactly of a calen- 
dar week. Father Walworth was satisfied that Agas- 
siz was no atheist or agnostic, but, on the contrary, 
held a firm belief in the Creator, and a reverent one. 
His studies had led him into a theory peculiar to him- 
self, however, that confiicted with the unity of man- 
kind as descended from one original Adam, and this 
became a stumbling block in the way of his faith 
in revelation. 

What has been said recently of Father Hecker, 
in these lines from a 'New York daily, applies no 
less to Father Walworth : " He burned with the 
most intense desire to tell his countrymen that the 
Catholic Church gives them a fiight to God a thou- 
sand times more direct than they ever dreamed of. 
They think the authority of the church will cramp 
their limbs. He was eager to explain to them that 
it sets them free, clears the mind of doubt; intensi- 
fies conviction into instinctive certitude and quick- 
ens the intellectual faculties into an activity whose 
force is unknown among those who are always in- 
quiring for and never gaining the truth.'' 

Like Father Hecker, too, he had a strong and 
abiding friendship for the great convert philosopher, 
Orestes Brownson. The last theological writings of 
Father Walworth were essays on '' The Philosophy 
of the Supernatural," and whilst preparing them. 
Dr. Brownson's essay on that same subject was, at 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 159 

his request, read to him several times. He con- 
sidered it the choicest and ripest fruit of a powerful 
brain. Once Dr. Brownson asked him to criticise 
an article just composed that he read to him. 
Father Walworth, throwing his head back thought- 
fully, did so. Then he looked at the doctor to find 
him tearing his manuscript into shreds. Without a 
word he tossed it into the waste-paper basket. 

" Why, Dr. Brownson," said the other, '' I am 
ashamed of you for such an exhibition of temper ! 
You have destroyed a very fine thing, a paper that 
it has taken a vast deal of thought to prepare.'^ 

" I never could hear criticism'' said the doctor, 
vehemently. Then, after a moment's pause, he took 
up the fragments with the penitent simplicity of a 
child : " I cannot put these together. I will go 
w^rite it all over again." And so he did, reading it 
once more to his merciless critic. Father Walworth 
would not allow him even the satisfaction of con- 
sidering it as good as the first one. ^' It is valu- 
able. Doctor, and should be printed in your quar- 
terly. But in the rewriting you have lost some of 
its life and snap. I regret very much that you 
destroyed the original draft, ^ext time I shall 
know better how to take you." 

" I was a fool," said the Doctor, ^^ say no more 
about it. I ought to have known better." 

This frank readiness to admit himself in the 
wrong was referred to by his friend as one of the 
fine traits in a noble character. 

'Small pictures of Orestes Brownson, of John 
Henry !N^ewman and of T. Romeyn Beck, of the 
Albany Academy, hung in Father Walworth's room. 
When on his deathbed his thoughts were dwelling 



160 Life Sketches o^f Fathee Walworth. 

with these honored friends, and their names, uttered 
with difficulty, yet tenderly, lingered on his lips. 
Dearly he loved them. 

His correspondence with his friend, Isaac Hecker, 
largely about literary matters connected with Catho- 
lic publications, continued till the death of the lat- 
ter, which occurred December 22, 1888. The sec- 
ond superior of the Paulists, another dear friend of 
his and a distant cousin, was Father Hewit, with 
whom he had been through thrilling scenes in the 
draft riots of 1863. Once when these two were in 
the street trying to quell the excitement, Father 
Hewit was clubbed to unconsciousness. His com- 
panion got him into a vacant house and obtained a 
doctor. It was sometime before they could leave 
it and, meanwhile, the two in charge of the patient 
witnessed some effective work by the city police 
force. Finally the mob was dispersed and a way 
opened for their return to Saint Paul's rectory. 
Seldom did Father Walworth, in his later years, go to 
New York city without spending some considerable 
portion of his time with members of the Fifty-ninth 
street community. After Father Hewit's death he 
received some details of his illness from Father 
Deshon, who, in his last letter, penned this brief 
but soldierly comment : '^ Like the old Roman he 
was he made no complaint." Father Deshon was 
soon called upon to take up the burdens of Father 
Hewit's office. On becoming the third superior of 
the Congregation of Saint Paul he wrote a letter to 
Father Walworth which shows both the strength of 
their friendship and the holiness that was its bond. 
These two reasons seem to warrant its publication 
here. The writer of these sketches was privileged 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 161 

to open it and read it to the recipient^ who had be- 
come too blind to decipher it himself, as he had like- 
wise been to pen the one that called it forth. Such 
words passing between two such patriarchs, when 
first they stood apart as the only surviving founders 
of the original Paulist community, throw light on 
the motives of many and go to make up history. 

Church of St. Paul the Apostle, 
Paulist Fathers, 

415 West Fifty-ninth St., 
New York, September 12, 1897. 

Deab Father Walwoeth — Your letter came very oppor- 
tunely and gave me much satisfaction. The election of Su- 
perior was of course a trying time. I really did not wish for 
the office but I was told by others whose judgment I valued, 
that I was the only possibility and in that point of view, I de- 
sired to be elected. If I had not been, I feel sure that I should 
not have grieved, but been thankful that in Divine Providence 
I had been released from responsibility. 

As you say, we have not long to stay here and we should 
not only acquiesce but be glad to be disposed of as God 
wishes. 

He is the judge of what is best for us. No matter what 
trouble and anxieties my other faculties have given me, Grod 
has hitherto kept my will firm, and in spite of shortcomings 
and deficiencies, I have but one object in view and that is 
God's will. I can honestly say with Job, " Though He slay 
me, I will trust Him," This is my disposition but I feel the 
need of grace every minute. 

Be assured, my dear Father Walworth, that I love you very 
much, and we will pray for each other constantly and fre- 
quently. Every time we think of one another, it will be a 
lifting up of our souls to God for our spiritual welfare, 

I think everything about this election has tended to an in- 
crease of love and harmony in our community. 

Affectionately in Xt,, 

GEOPvGE DESHON, 

C. S. P. 



162 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

A sermon suited to war times in ^ew York 
city has been chosen to append to this chapter. It 
throws light on the development of Father Wal- 
worth's character through multiform activities of a 
priestly life, in the heart of the nineteenth century. 
It has thoughts, too, for our own time and points to 
a " star on a policeman's coat." 

TEE MAJESTY OF THE LAW. 

{A Sermon Preached after the 'New York Riots.) 

Let every soul he subject to the powers above him; for 
there is no power but from God, and those that be are or- 
dained of God." Rom. xiii, 1. 

We have just passed, my dearest brethren, through a fear- 
ful crisis; such a one as, from time to time but, thank God, 
at rare intervals, arises to startle whole communities into 
a sense of imminent danger, as if some earthquake had burst 
under foot and threatened a common destruction to all. 
Nothing, so we are told by travelers, nothing can equal the 
terror impressed on the mind by the first experience of an 
earthquake. We are accustomed from early childhood to 
confide in the stability of the earth on which we tread. The 
water and the air we know to be unstable elements, but we 
trust the solid earth, and once our feet are planted on her 
strong rocky breast, we feel secure. It only needs the ex- 
perience of an earthquake to destroy this faith. When one 
suddenly feels the earth rising and sinking and swaying to 
and fro beneath his feet, when he can no longer trust the 
very ground on which he stands, the illusion of a whole life is 
dissipated. All faith in the stability of nature vanishes, as if 
God had recalled the laws of his creation and the world were 
crumbling back again into chaos. f 

A shock like this has been felt among us. We always knew 
that there are places where life and property are not secure 
in the lonely road, on the wide prairie, in the dense forest, 
where the arm of the law cannot reach us to shield us. But 
that robbery and murder should prevail in the streets of this 
city of New York, in the open daylight, and at a thousand 
points at once, unresisted and seemingly irresistible — to feel 



One of the Paulist Fathees. 163 

that any one who hated us, might come to burn our houses 
over our heads with impunity, or beat us to death upon the 
pavement, — this was something new and startling. We have 
always trusted in the law to protect us. The law was like a 
firm rock under our feet and on that we stood secure. But 
here was a power that rose above the law, a subterranean 
monster that struggled up from the caverns of the earth into 
the daylight, and setting its strong shoulders against the 
pillars of the law strove to bring down the whole fabric of 
society into ruins. We have seen the law powerless for a 
time before a triumphant mob, a passionate, unprincipled, 
reckless, merciless mob. It has been our first experience; may 
God spare us a second! 

If the ofiice of a preacher is a Divine one; if he speaks 
in the name of God; if he would not waste his words where 
they are not needed, but speak with a high and holy purpose, 
and to a practical end, giving meat, as the Psalmist says, of 
the providence of God, in due season " tn tempore opportuno;" 
then is there no time like this, no fitter time, to speak of that 
obedience which every citizen owes to the laws of his country. 

IT IS NECESSARY TO OBEY THE LAW. BOTH REASON AND RE- 
LIGION TEACH IT. 

1. Reason teaches it. A mingled party of Herodians and 
Pharisees came once to our Lord to consult him upon a dis- 
puted question. They said to him : " Master, we know that 
Thou art a true speaker, and teachest the way of God in 
truth; neither carest thou for any man, for thou dost not re- 
gard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, lohat dost thou 
think? Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or notf" Our 
Lord in his answer makes a plain appeal to reason and common 
sense. " Show me the tribute money," said He. Let me see the 
current coin with the government stamp. " Whose image and 
inscription is this?" In whose hands are the reins of govern- 
ment? To whom does it belong to make the laws? "They 
say to him: Caesar's." Caesar is our ruler and lawmaker. 
Well! then "Bender to Caesar the things that are Caesar's 
and to God the things that are God's."* If Caesar is your 



* St. Matt. xxii. 16-22. 



164 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

prince and lawgiver, then obey him and submit to his laws, 
and pay in your tribute for the support of his government. 
What is the meaning of any government, human or divine, 
unless they are to be obeyed? 

Yes, my dear Brethren, reason teaches us to obey the law, 
for all we have on earth we owe to the protection of the 
laws, life, liberty, property, honor, and our freedom to wor- 
ship Grod. 

You owe your life to the protection of the laws. A man 
hates you with all the bitterness of his heart. He would 
plunge a dagger into your bosom if he dared. Why does he 
not? Perhaps he is stronger than you, or if not he might 
strike you unawares. Perhaps he has more friends to back 
his quarrel than you have. And yet you do not apprehend 
any danger. Why not? Because you know your enemy is 
afraid to attack you. What is he afraid of? Not of you. 
No; he is afraid of a little silver star on a policeman's coat. 
That star is the eye of the law which watches over you, to 
protect you and follows your footsteps, wherever you go. 
That eye is on your adversary also, and he is afraid of it. 
It says to him: "^ He that sheddeth man's hlood, hy man shall 
his hlood he shed.'' Only strip that star from the policeman's 
breast, only tear out that leaf on which the law against 
murder is written, only let a successful mob rise and trample 
dovm the authority which wrote the law and armed the police 
— and your life is at the mercy of the first ruffian that 
assails it. 

You owe your liberty to the protection of the law. You 
happen to be a Catholic, but the majority of your neighbors 
are not. Some of them are contented to follow their own 
light, and leave you to follow yours. But all are not so 
liberal. There are some who hate the sight of your church, 
and would be glad to see it in ruins. The sound of our bells 
in their ears are enough to make them howl. Why do they 
not gather and come in here to interrupt our worship, break 
down our altar and drive us home? The law protects us. 
There is about us this morning something which we cannot 
see, but which makes its presence felt; a mysterious influence 
shed around us which our enemies fear, and which makes our 
hearts secure. It is the shadow of a great eagle's wing out- 
spread above us. It is the majesty of the laAV. Under the 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 165 

protection of that mighty wing we worship God without fear. 
To the law, then, we owe liberty of conscience. Our enemies 
respect it, and shall not we respect it, too? To the law you 
owe the security of your property. The city is full of thieves, 
at least of those wdio will steal when they dare. No feeling 
of honor, or conscience, or religion restrains them from 
bursting into your house to plunder and pillage. Your wife 
and children are but a feeble guard when you are away, and 
even at night when you are home, you are as helpless as tlie 
rest, for your eyes are locked in sleep. Is there nothing 
there you value, nothing that it would grieve you to lose? 
How then can you sleep so securely! Are you not afraid to 
close your eyes, for fear you may awake again to find your 
drawers broken open, your money, your tools, your furniture 
gone, your house, perhaps, wrapped in flames? No; you are 
not afraid, for you know that you are protected. Your doors 
are barricaded, but not with stakes or stones; your windows 
are barred but not with iron. It is fear of the law that 
guards your house. While the majesty of the law is respected, 
so long your property is secure. 

What do you not owe to the protection of the laws? Your 
honor, your reputation, the honor of your wives and daughters, 
are only secure against ruffians, because the law of your 
country protects you. And will you not honor the law? Or 
do you wish that the law shall restrain the passions of other 
men, and not yours also. Oh! beware how you teach men to 
resist the law! That arm of the government which you seek 
to paralyze by violence and revolt is the only security you 
have in the enjoyment of all your dearest rights. Do not 
rouse the passions of the people! There is cupidity enough 
and hatred enough and lust enough and folly enough in a 
mob to reach your home as well as others, to set fire to your 
roof and w^ash your floors wdth blood. There is a slumbering 
tiger in every community. If you have anything to lose, or 
anything to love, do not help to unchain him. 

" SJioiv me the tribute money " said the Lord. " Whose 
image and inscription is this?'' What is it I see on this 
governmental coin? A liberty head, and an eagle. Ah! yes; 
my liberty, and all my safety, I owe to that eagle. While 
she hovers overhead, I sleep secure, and commit confidingly all 
T love to the shelter of her wings. W^hile she holds those 



166 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

wings extended in the pride of her power, liberty triumphs; 
when they droop, tyranny prevails; when she falls, then comes 
anarchy, misery and the abomination of desolation. Liberty! 
what is liberty? Is it the freedom of passion and disorder, 
the reign of the individual will and brute force? No, God 
forbid! It is the triumph of order, obedience and law. It is 
the submission of individual interests to the common good of 
all. It is protection afforded to the gentle and the feeble by 
restraints placed upon the brutal and the powerful. Liberty 
is the child of law and order. The true patrons of tyranny 
are those assassins who assail my liberty, by railing against 
the majesty of the law by which my rights are protected. 

2. It is necessary to obey the law, because such is the 
WILL OF GOD. In the ancient Hebrew code, God commanded that 
those who would not submit to the decree of the Judge of 
Israel should be put to death. Deut. xvii. 12. If resistance 
to the law were not a great sin, surely God would not have 
prescribed so severe a punishment for it. It would be cruel 
to visit a light offense with death. But in the New Testa- 
ment the Christian Doctrine on this point is set forth in the 
clearest and most explicit terms. The law of obedience to 
civil authorities is laid down as a religious principle. The 
reason for it is given. The penalty is declared against the 
transgressor. And the quibbling reasons which rioters are 
wont to assign for their violence, and more cowardly trans- 
gressors for their evasions of the law, are anticipated and 
refuted. " Let every soul he subject to the higher powers," 
says the Apostle Paul. With what an emphasis this comes 
from the lips of the great apostle. Of all men, perhaps, in 
the Roman Empire, he had the least protection from the 
authorities of the government. His country was held as a 
tributary province. His religion was proscribed by law. His 
life was forfeited to the State for the offense of being a 
(Christian. But he would not pervert the truth for any such 
considerations as these. He had a mission to speak in the 
name of God, and God's truth must be declared in its sim- 
plicity. " Let every soul he suhject to the higher powers." 
It is then a Divine law or precept. God commands it, and the 
good Christian, therefore, must obey the voice of God, by 
«>beying the laws of his country. 



Ojs^e of the Paulist Fathers. 1G7 

The apostle, however, does not leave the matter here. There 
is a profound philosophy behind the precept, and he goes on 
to explain it to us. It does not need any revelation to teach 
us the religious necessity of obedience. There is an inherent 
reason in the very nature of the government. " There is no 
power," the Apostle tells us, " hut from God, and those that 
be are ordained of God." Rom. xiii. 1. In other words, 
there is no lawful government but such as derive their 
authority from God. All authority, wherever it exists, 
whether in the family, or the State, or in the Church, derives 
its sanction from God alone. The child is bound to obey its 
parent, only because God wills it, because that parent has 
authority from God. His right to command, and the child's 
duty to obey, are both derived from Heaven. It is natural 
law, you say. Ay, but what is natural law, but God's law? 
The authority of civil governments is derived from the same 
high source. It is nothing else than Divine authority com- 
mitted to the agency of men. ''By me," says Divine Wisdom, 
" Kings reign; hy me princes rule, and the mighty decree 
justice." Frov. viii. 15. There is no reason under Heaven, 
why I am bound to obey any law, either in the family, or in 
the State, or in the Church except that the right to command 
is given by God. " For there is no power hut from God," 
says the Apostle, " and those that he are ordained of God." 
No matter, therefore, whether the seat of authority is deter- 
mined by popular election or by hereditary descent, its source 
is always from God. The magistrates in the civil government 
stand upon the same footing as the Priests in the Church; 
" for they are the ministers of God, serving unto this pur- 
pose." A miserable Christian is he that will not obey the 
laws of his country. 

I know what is the common argument used against rioters. 
You expose yourself to great danger, they tell you. You 
cannot succeed in the end. The force of the government is 
too strong. Your violence will recoil upon your own head. 
You will be shot down in the streets in the conflict; or, at 
least, afterward you will be dragged before the magistrates, 
and all you will gain by your resistance to the laws will be 
a death of shame, or a lonely cell in the prison. 

These arguments are very good in their way, and in any 
other place than this I might use them too. But here. 



168 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

standing in this churcli, and before God's altar, I feel called 
upon to take higher ground. It is not merely as a matter of 
policy and expediency, or for fear of getting into trouble, 
that we are bound to respect the laws. It is a solemn matter 
of conscience. " Wherefore,'^ — I borrow once more the Ian 
guage of St. Paul — "wherefore he subject of necessity, not 
only for wrath, hut for conscience." 

" I will not submit to this law," says the angry rioter, 
" and woe to them that try to enforce it ! I will oppose it 
with all my power, and if they are able to put me down, why 
then I will bear the penalty." You will bear the penalty! 
And you know what the penalty is — the whole penalty ? It 
is not merely confinement in the state prison. It is confine- 
ment in hell. It is not merely to expose yourself to the fire 
of a platoon of soldiers. There is danger of hell-fire. You 
need not take my word for it; I will give you the Apostle's: 
'• Therefore, he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordi- 
nance of God; and they that resist purchase to themselves 
damnation." Ah! then there is more to fear than the out- 
raged government of your country. There is more to fear 
than a police force, or a company of soldiers, or a jury, or 
a judge, or a prison, or a gallows. The rioter must meet the 
indignation of an angry God. Oh! yes, there is a majesty in 
the Law. What is it? It is the majesty of G^d. 

I do not know, my Brethren, how far the guilt of this late 
riot extends. I do not know how many, if any, of those 
before me are implicated in it. I thank God I do not recog- 
nize any. I am glad to believe that the most of you feel the 
same horror that I feel at the remembrance of these scenes 
of violence, these prostrate victims calling in vain for mercy, 
these burning houses, these shelterless orphans. It was an 
awful week. What mother but waited in terror until her boy 
came home at night! What wife but trembled at every knock 
on the door, for fear it might be a husband brought home in 
bloody garments! How many that dared not sleep at night! 
How many that awoke in the morning only to recommence a 
day of terrors! But let it pass, and God grant that the 
fearful reality may never come again! I am glad I say to 
believe — and I think I read it in your sad but confiding 
faces — that the most of you are innocent in this matter. 
But if there be any guilty ones here, oh! hang your heads 



One of the Paulist Fathers. 169 

with shame! What have you done? Dishonored your names 
as citizens and as Christians. You have outraged the majesty 
of that law which protects you. You have risen in revolt 
against the government that shelters you. You have helped, 
perhaps, to shed innocent blood. You have dishonored the 
flag of your country. You have dishonored your faith, and 
your baptism. You have brought shame upon the cross that 
surmounts this altar where you worship, and that is carved 
on the headstones where your forefathers lie buried. Do 
penance then for the wrong you have done, for the violence 
you have encouraged, for the evil you have meditated. And 
let the sad memory of what is past remain in j^our minds as 
a salutary lesson for the future. And should these evil days 
return again — as I pray to God that they may not — should 
these disturbances be unhappily renewed; or if at any other 
time in years to come, should the standard of riot and revolt 
be upreared in our streets, then let us be found, my Brethren, 
with every citizen who loves his country and every Catholic 
who loves his faith, nobly rallying to resist the mob and to 
uphold the majesty of the Law. 



IX. 

CORRESPONDENCE WITH CONVERTS. 
A Letter on the Trinity — Hecker, Newman, Hewit, 

Father Walwortli received many converts into the 
Catholic Church, and many received by others 
ascribed to him their conversion. One in the long 
list of his converts was Miss Martha Wallace of 
Pittsburg, Pa. For his relatives a special interest 
is attached to this conversion, from the fact that 
her sister afterwards married Father Walworth's 
nephew, Mr. Mansfield Davison. Miss Susan Davi- 
son wrote, in 1905, the following words to her 
paternal uncle, Charles, himself a recent convert to 
the Catholic Church (and chiefly through the same 
influence that moved so long ago the soul of Miss 
Davison's " Aunt Mattie") : 

^' Her name was Martha Wallace and she was con- 
verted by Uncle Clarence in Pittsburg, when he gave 
his mission with Father Hecker. Mother says she 
does not remember the exact year, but it was in the 
fifties. She died in 1859, having joined the Catholic 
Church a few years before. My aunt took the name 
Eulalia when she was baptised." 

Some of his converts became zealous apostles of 
the faith. Most of them persevered and rejoiced 
at the sight of him. A few fell away. Several 
whom he won were married clergymen, who had 
to face the trying problem of finding a new means 
of livelihood for their families. In this last class 



Correspondence with Converts. 171 

was a fellow student and Tractarian, one of those 
wlio wrote to him just as he was starting abroad for 
the novitiate. His heart prompted this clergyman 
to visit the friend of by-gone days during the time 
of a mission at Utica, ^N". Y. This was his greeting 
from the convert and missioner: 

^' Well, Whitcher, don't let us dodge the one great 
matter of which we are both thinking. Why are 
you not a Catholic long before this ? " 

'' Sure enough/' was the response, ^' that is the 
great question, and I don't know how to answer it." 

"Ten long years of your life have passed away," 
said Father Walworth, " and still here you are look- 
ing one way and rowing the other. How can you do 
it ? How can your conscience bear it ?" 

A little more urging and this subdued soul, from 
which much early life and fire had departed, prom- 
ised to resign his charge of a church at Whitesboro 
and put himself shortly in the hands of Father Mc- 
Farland, pastor of St. John's, Utica, for further in- 
struction. This priest, who soon received Mr. 
Whitcher into the church, became afterwards the 
Bishop of Hartford, in Connecticut. 

Many years later Father Walworth could still be 
found at the same apostolic task of gathering in con- 
verts whenever and wherever hungry souls came 
about him. And how many such there are ! He 
was usually a very quiet but alert fisher of men, 
whether sitting on the bank or standing in the 
stream. It was an interesting surprise one day to 
his niece to find how at his tongue's end was the 
ancient and honorable science of angling, as he con- 
versed in a railway train with a gentleman just start- 
ing for the Adirondacks with rod and reel. The 



172 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

latter was deliglited to find so responsive a com- 
panion for his journey. When Father Walworth 
took some of his last walks in Washington Park, 
Albany, he was too blind to read and too feeble 
to go far without resting on a bench. There 
he would sit on sunny afternoons fingering his ros- 
ary. After his eyes began to fail he was accustomed 
to say " fifteen decades '' daily, by privilege from 
Rome secured for him by Bishop Wadhams, instead 
of reading the office from the breviary. Often some 
man, a convalescent or traveler, would sit down and 
talk to him. More than one convert was instructed 
by him for the sacraments in that peaceful park, 
under the great willows, as they rested together on 
a bench. It became a trysting place of his and 
theirs for that purpose. 

The painstaking way in which he was willing to 
labor for a human soul not yet of the fold may 
well be shown here by some pages of correspondence. 
Following the four letters that group themselves 
about his own on the Trinity, given below, are a 
few others from his fellow converts of the priest- 
hood. His correspondence with Father Hecker, in 
its refreshing and hearty abandon, is strongly char- 
acteristic of him and of their later intercourse, deal- 
ing much with his contributions to the Paulist pub- 
lications. Part of the subject matter of this very 
Letter on the Trinity has already appeared in the 
Catholic World as far back as December, 1885, in an 
article entitled ^^ The Trinity in Simple English." 
A perusal of the entire original letter will, we think, 
give an added interest to that article as well as to his 
later meditative poems, '' Gradus ad Trinitatem/' 
showing how thought grows to maturity like a flower. 



COEEESPONDENCE WITH CONVEETS. 173 

The letter, too, from ^N'ewman, printed in Father 
Walworth^s final series of Reminiscences, will bear 
re-reading here, as coming from that master mind 
among English speaking converts to his reverent 
disciple. Finally, some last treasured lines from 
Father Hewit will complete our little packet of con- 
verts' letters. 

From A. to Rev. Clarence Walworth, New York City. 

O , Vt., Feb. 21, 1864. 

Rev. and Dear Father — A friend of mine, Miss X,* has 
asked me to recommend a priest to her, that she may cor- 
respond with him about Catholic doctrines. She is quite a 
talented and cultivated woman; has been struggling with her- 
self for years. She has corresponded with Bishop Hopkins 
of Burlington, Vt. The doctrine of the Trinity prevented her 
becoming an Episcopalian. I am sure she desires earnestly to 
be at peace with God. You already perceive that with your 
permission, I wish to recommend yourself. I know with all 
your cares, it would be a great bother. Your kind patience 
towards my griefs (for which you have my best thanks) 
gives me courage to ask so great a favor. Being an American 
and a Convert, I feel sure you will understand her needs. 
If you are so generous as to consent, please send me your 
proper address, which I cannot find. Hoping to be sometimes 
remembered in your prayers, especially before the altar, I am, 

Your obedient child in Christ. 

A. 

From X. to the Same. 

O , Vt., March 4, 1864. 

Revernd axd Dear Sir — Grateful for the very kind per 
mission to address you, tendered through A., I 'v\'111 endeavor 
to narrow the present correspondence to a single but para- 
mount consideration, The Trinity. 



* This letter X. stands for a name the author of these sketches 
does not feel at liberty to insert, without furher information or 
full permission. 



174 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Many years a sad seeker for religious Truth, feeling deepest 
need of the external aid of a church to " keep me to heights 
which the soul is competent to gain," I have believed myself 
hopelessly debarred admission into any Trinitarian Church 
from the nature and invincible obstinacy of my ideas of the 
Trinity — ideas derived in childhood from a literal interpre- 
tation of the Scriptures — strengthened by years into ( I be- 
lieve ) unchangeable conviction — ideas which I have always 
regarded as Unitarian; although, only in the works of E. H. 
Sears, Uni Divine, have I found a perfect exposition of them, 
and he is claimed by Trinitarians. Conversations with vari- 
ous Protestant Trinitarians, clergy and laity, have only the 
more hopelessly perplexed, from the want of harmony in their 
views or explanations, some ^^egarding myself as Uni, others 
as Trinitarian. 

In this embarrassment, I begged A to direct me to the 
wisest Catholic she knew, that such a one might decide 
whether my views could be sanctioned by a Trinitarian Church, 
as this must precede any serious consideration of Catholicism. 
Although intimate relations with several Romanists, an ex- 
amination of their doctrines, and above all the purity of 
their lives, the loftiness of their aspirations and the depth of 
their Faith, have not only softened early prejudices, but have 
engendered a profound conviction that a corrupt Church could 
not bring forth such fruits of exceeding Charity, Humility, 
Holiness. 

Conceiving that the present purpose will be better sub- 
served by an attempted exposition of my own ideas than by 
the wisest instructions of yourself, you will kindly pardon 
a summing. 

The Catholic creed I unreservedly but literally accept. I 
believe in one God, The Father, and in Jesus Christ, His only 
begotten Son — wholly divine by virtue of His sonship, as 
man born of humanity is human — as distinct from the 
Father as any human father and son, though one in essence 
and spirit far more intimately than is possible to humanity. 
Equal to the Father by a delegated power, the Father having 
committed all things into His hands; but that when he shall 
have subdued all things under Him, He also shall be subject 
to the Father. When or how in the remote eternities He was 
begotten, or how for our redemption He became man, I do 



Correspondence with Converts. 175 

not seek to know. The love I bear the blessed Saviour is so 
wholly distinct from that exercised towards the Almighty 
Father, that to believe in their absolute oneness, would be 
an infinite bereavement, would be to take my Lord away. 

The words, " God the Father, Grod the Son, God the Holy 
Ghost," are to my heart and my understanding utterly un- 
intelligible (not to say absurd) and surely there are mys- 
teries enough without receiving absurdities. 

My conceptions of the Holy Spirit do not materially differ 
from those commonly received. 

The words " Very God of Very God " would make that 
sublime prayer, " Father forgive them," utterly meaningless 
as if addressed to Himself. 

* With renewed thanks for your kindness, and entreaties that 
I may not be allowed to trouble you, and that you will con- 
sult your leisure in answering. Very respectfully, 

X. 

Please address as before A, O , Vt. 

LETTER ON THE TRINITY. 
Rev. Clarence Walworth to X. 

New York, March 11, 1864. 

Dear Friend — Returning to-day home after a week's ab- 
sence, I find your letter upon my table, and hasten to answer 
it. I thank you for the confidence which you have put in 
me, although a stranger; for, although but an exposition of 
the state of your mind in regard to a single point, it is still 
a confidence, — and I feel that I am better acquainted with 
you after that short letter than with some others after a 
dozen interviews. I said in my reply to A's letter, that I 
wished first of all to know your exact standpoint. So far as 
the Trinity is concerned, you have given it to me as precisely, 
I suppose, as the same number of words could possibly give 
it; with at the same time an idea of the character of your 
intelligence which justifies me in going more deeply into this 
question than I had anticipated. The diflSculty in your mind 
is a philosophical one, and although possibly you may not 
have studied philosophy, I feel confident that you will be able 
to comprehend a philosophical exposition of the Catholic doc- 
trine of the Trinity, at least when stripped of merely con- 



176 Life Sketches o-f Father Walworth. 

ventional and technical terms. You certainly are not a Uni- 
tarian in any sense in which I would not have you so. You 
are a Trinitarian, that is to say, you believe enough to carry 
with it the entire Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, although 
at the same time, for want of a full analysis of your own 
thought, you state certain propositions which are contrary 
both to your own thought and to the Catholic doctrine. 

To understand the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, it is 
simply necessary to understand distinctly the difference be- 
tween the words " Essence " ( or its equivalent " substance " ) 
and "Person," or (to use a term which for intelligent minds 
is more accurate) "Subsistence." To understand the Scrip- 
ture language upon this question, it is only necessary to bear 
in mind that our Lord Jesus Christ combines in his one single 
personality two different and distinct natures: that He is 
really God and really man, and capable of speaking in either, 
character, while (through the defect simply of our language 
and the feehle grasp of our intelligence) no words which He 
could employ fairly represent Him in both characters at once. 
I will leave you, for the present at least, to make what use 
you may of this second suggestion: confining myself to an 
exposition of " Catholic philosophy " on this subject. The 
Catholic doctrine or dogma any catechism will give you. You 
will find the following exposition, but at far greater length,- 
in a Sermon of Father Lacordaire's in his Conferences a Notre 
Dame, entitled " La vie intime de Dieu," aiid also in different 
numbers of Brownson's Revieio, in particular, the No's for 
April, 1862, and July, 1863. Lacordaire is, however, much 
clearer and more easily intelligible. I have made extracts 
from both in a scrap-book of mine, which fortunately makes 
this present task quite easy. Please, dear young Lady, 
before reading farther, remember that we are speaking 
of a high and holy mj^stery, which we Christians, we Catholic 
Christians at least, receive upon simple faith on the strength 
of a divine revelation transmitted to us from the incarnate 
Son of God Himself, through that ancient and holy Church, 
which He Himself established. A mystery it must remain in 
spite of all my explanations. How can it be otherwise than 
a mystery, since there is question here of the intimate life 
of the eternal and unfathomable God? All I shall attempt 
to do is, to explain away all seeming contradiction to your 



Correspondence with Converts. 177 

reason, for I acknowledge that your reason is to you a Divine 
gift, and it would be an attack upon the sacred rights in 
which you were created to ask you to believe what reason 
really and evidently contradicts. We Catholic priests are 
great dogmatizers I acknowledge, for we believe in holding 
rigidly to the ancient faith; we believe our reason to be 
limited, but we have no idea of abdicating it, and I should be 
sorry to see you abdicate yours. Happy shall I be, if I can 
lead your heart to embrace the true idea of God in Trinity, 
with permission of your reason! The steps by which I would 
propose to conduct your mind, not to the demonstration, nor 
even just now to any external proofs of the Trinity, but to 
an intelligent conception of our doctrine — these steps, I say, 
are three. 1. That the intimate life of God is necessarily a 
life of interior relations. 2. These relations are naturally 
neither more nor less than three. 3. These interior relations 
although dictinct in respect to each other are all equally 
infinite, etc., and constitute one only Divine life. If, without 
appealing to Revelation, I am able to make this apparent, you 
will find your reason prepared for the revealed doctrine of 
the Trinity and a few words more will make the meaning of 
Sacred Scripture apparent also. 

In this, we agree, do we not, that there is but one God. 
But by this we do not mean to say that God is unity, and 
nothing else. Simple unity, or unity without contents or 
interior relations, is a mere abstract idea. But God is no ab- 
straction. He is not a being in the abstract, for that is no 
real being at all; but He is a real, living and, therefore, con- 
crete Being, not indeed made up of parts, but yet consisting 
of interior relations. Abstract oneness, or a naked and empty 
unity, can never be the equivalent of God in a mind which 
believes in a real and living God. When the Unitarian says 
one, he still asks, one what? The answer is one God which 
implies even with him something more than unity. It im- 
plies unity with certain real and necessary contents which 
constitute a living or actual being. God is not a mere 
creature or theorem of the human mind, but one living and 
true God, existing in and of Himself prior to every created 
mind, whether human or angelic. 

To be sure, God is one in a manner in which no other 
being is one. When, for instance, I say one man, the man I 



178 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

speak of is a unit whicli supposes other units or other beings 
that I may call one in the same sense. God, however, is 
not one in the same sense of one out of a number. He 
is not a numeral but a supernumeral unit. His is an 
universal, all-embracing, all-sufficing unity. He is that One 
in whom "All things live and move and have being." This, 
however, must not lead us to the idea of God as a pantheistic 
abstraction or generalization wrought out of our own minds. 
He is a real, living, complete, independent and self-sufficing, 
as well as infinite and universal Being, including in himself 
intrinsically the principle of unity and that of multiplicity, 
of identity and diversity. For these principles are manifest 
in creation; but how could they exist in the creation, which 
is a faint image of God, except they existed primarily in the 
great Archetype? If God were simply one and nothing more, 
an unity without interior relations, he would, therefore, he 
without life. 

The same supposition would destroy also the idea of Divine 
beauty. What is beauty but the result of order, and how can 
order exist without multiplicity? Where order reigns, its 
rule is between two or more terms, and it constitutes the 
relation of these to each other. Now infinite beauty is cer- 
tainly an attribute of God. But where is it seated? Not in 
creation, for God was beautiful before creation had beginning, 
and the beauty of creation is but a faint, shadowy copy of his 
own infinite loveliness. The Divine beauty, therefore, must be 
sought for in the intimate life of God, that is, in the interior 
and necessary relations which subsist in his own being. The 
infinite order and harmony of these relations constitute that 
infinite beauty. Try to fix this in your mind, dear young 
Lady, that God is a concrete and not an abstract being — a 
Being that consists necessarily of interior and constituent 
relations. His unity constituted or made up of these relations. 
For my part, I cannot otherwise conceive of God as a living 
being. Can you? 

If you have understood me thus far, then let me advance 
another step, but cautiously, for I fear you will find what is 
to come still deeper and more difficult; but the difficulty is 
not yet in the obscurity of the subject so much as in the con- 
centration of thought which is required. I have Just said 
that to find these necessary interior relations which consti- 



Correspondence with Converts. 179 

tute the Divine unity, we must search for them in the intimate 
or interior life of God. Biit the life of God consists essentially 
in His activity. What is all life but activity? And the life 
of God, what but infinite activity? To say that God lives is 
to say that He acts. But action supposes movement, and 
movement supposes an aim or end, a goal, a term to which 
the living being aspires. Why do I move? It is to do some- 
thing. To do is the motive of my action, and something done 
is the term, or result, or product of my activity. Productive- 
ness is thus an essential and constituent quality of activity, 
and production is its final term. So then we are brought to 
this: A living being is necessarily an active being, and an 
active being is necessarily a productive being, and a pro- 
ductive being supposes the bringing forth of something which 
is the product of his activity. Fertility or fecundity is thus 
a necessary law of life, and it must be an attribute of God 
as a living being, or a necessity of his Divine life. 

But this necessity in God is not satisfied by the creation 
of the world, nor can any creation satisfy it. Indeed no 
sound theologian holds that God was or can be under any 
necessity to create. And even if he were, no created things, 
could ever be sufficient to satisfy this law of fecundity which 
we have seen to be an attribute of God, and, therefore, infinite. 
For the law of activity is that a being must produce in the 
proportion of its activity, and the life or activity of God 
being infinite, the result of that activity must be the produc- 
tion of something also infinite like itself. True, we can con- 
ceive of a production inferior to the being from which it 
emanates, but this will be accessory and incidental and not 
the principal act of life. Every being tends to produce in the 
plenitude of its faculties, because its tendency is to live the 
plenitude of its own life, and it attains to this natural term 
of its ambition only by producing out of the activity of its 
own life something equal to itself. The life or a^tivity^ 
therefore, of a "being is measured hy its fecundity, and so must 
it he with God. 

It is so in man. The principle of fecundity or paternity in 
man is twofold, man being of a twofold nature, animal and 
spiritual. This first is satisfied by the production of natural 
born children like himself, and equal to himself. But as a 
spiritual being composed of intellect and will, the life of 



180 Life Sketches ot Father Walwoeth. 

man requires a higher and nobler generation to correspond 
to its activity. He must give birth to aspirations, and gener- 
ate thoughts; these constitute his life as a spiritual being. 
These conceptions of his mind, and aspirations of his heart or 
will, are at once the productions of his soul and constitute its 
natural life. If those men who follow the lower instincts of 
their nature to the neglect — the comparative neglect at least 
— of the nobler instincts of the soul, if these men are neces- 
sarily miserable and unhappy, what does this prove except 
what I have already said, that every being tends to produce 
in the plenitude of its faculties, and that in every being the 
fullness of its life is measured by its fecundity. It would not 
be difficult to show how this law of fecundity, this law by 
which a being must reproduce of its own kind, extends to all 
creatures of every rank and order, even to inorganic things 
which possess a certain innate force of drawing and aggre- 
gating to themselves foreign substances to which they com- 
municate their own vital energy. Life, activity, fecundity — 
these are characteristics of every created thing; are they not 
characteristics of the Creator? If the power to reproduce 
itself is a perfection in the creature, shall we not look for a 
corresponding perfection in the Creator, who is also the 
Archetype of all things? Is God alone childless? In other 
words, setting aside all thought of creation, and referring to 
God alone as he exists in Himself, as he existed before any 
creature came into being, is there not to be found in that 
very divine life itself the necessary and essential relationship 
of parent and child? Is not God in the truest sense of the word 
a Father, and in the like sense a Son, comprising or compre- 
hending these two relationships — this one relationship, I 
should say — within the single circle of his own infinite life? 
If philosophy itself without Revelation indicates (and I think 
it does ) a Divine sonship like this, then that Son must partake 
in all its fullness of the Divine life of the Father, and be what 
the Nicene Creed says of Him, "the only begotten Son of God," 
that is, Son in such a sense as we are not and no created thing 
can be, "born of the Father before all worlds," that is, 
eternal like the Father, being a constituent and necessary 
element of the godhead itself, " God of God — light of light — 
true God of true God — begotten, not made — consuhstantial 
with the Father," or to use the expression of the Apostle 



CORKESPONDENCE WITH CONVERTS. 181 

Paul, " the express image of his substance," If the Son of 
God, however, were " equal to the Father," as you say in your 
declaration of faith, " by a delegated poiver " only, and not 
by virture of his own inherent and eternal divinity, this 
would not give to the Deity even what philosophy requires, 
a concrete unity, an unity composed of interior relations, a 
truly interior life, a life of activity, and, therefore, as I have 
endeavored to show, of infinite and eternal fecundity. Neither 
— pardon me the digression — would it at all correspond to 
the language of Holy Scripture, in particular, the first chap- 
ter of the Hebrews where, although some of the expressions 
can only apply to our Lord after his incarnation, when already 
clothed in his human character (e. g. verse 9) yet He is also 
distinctly spoken of as the maker of the world, the heir of 
all things, the splendor of God's glory, the figure, character 
or express image of His substance, upholding all things by 
the word of his power, and superior to the Angels, not only in 
this that He is called Son, but because to that Son alone 
could be said: " Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever." 

I understand very well that I have not met your chief diffi- 
culty yet, although, as I trust, I have paved the w^ay to it. 
Patience, dear young Lady, have patience in the starlight, by 
the grace of God we may yet see the morning break. Let us 
now return to our philosophy, and to those interior relations 
which, as we have seen, constitute the true unity, the essen- 
tial life of God as a concrete and not an abstract being. 

Grod, I have said, is inconceivable as living being, unless 
we conceive of Him as acting. To live is to act. God cannot 
be actual unless He acts, for without acting, He can be con- 
ceived only as potential, or as an inert, idle being, an un- 
occupied intelligence with a capacity to act. To conceive of 
Him so is to conceive of Him as existing prior to action, a 
slumbering deity, which could only find lodgment in the brain 
of a materialist. All action in God must be eternal and 
infinite. In Him is infinite and eternal power to act, in 
infinite and eternal exercise. To be eternally and infinitely 
living is to be eternally and infinitely acting, is to be all act. 
And, therefore, philosophers and theologians term God, in 
scholastic language, " most pure act." In other words, His 
interior or intimate life is not made up of a succession of acts 
(which would be to live in time) ; His whole life is but one 



18i2' Life Sketches O'F Father Walwoeth. 

infinite and eternal act (which is to live in eternity). Let 
us now reverently endeavor to scrutinize this life-act of God. 
We may glean from it something to throw light upon the 
Trinity, for in truth that act is the Trinity. 

God being spirit, His interior life consists in the eternal 
and infinite activity of His intelligence and His will, or (what 
in God is the same thing) His infinite self -consciousness and 
self-adhesion; and it is in these that we must seek for those 
interior relations which constitute His real, living and there- 
fore concrete unity. Now, the intelligence to be actual must 
express itself, at least interiorly; and to be infinite it must 
have an infinite expression, and the same is to be said of the 
will. In God these two faculities, or life powers, are per- 
fectly commensurate, equal and simultaneous, each infinite 
and each eternal, only that in logical order the intelligence 
is prior. In finite man, the priority of order supposes a prior- 
ity of time. We first look and then love. Not so in the 
divinity, where all is infinite. Between the intelligence and 
the will of God there can be no priority of action in point of 
time; but still the logical precedence of order exists. It is 
in the eternal contemplation of His own goodness and beauty 
that His infinite will is eternally kindled into love. There- 
fore, in contemplating and studying the being of God in its 
interior relations, we commence naturally and logically with 
His intelligence. What follows I give you in the beautiful 
and expressive language of Father Lacordaire: 

" God being a spirit, His first act, therefore, is to think. 
But His thought is not multiplex and successive like ours, 
born only to die, and dying to be born again. Ours is multi- 
plex, because being finite we are not able to represent the 
objects presented to our intelligence except one by one. Our 
thought is perishable, because our ideas pressing one after the 
other, the second dethrones the first, and the third drives 
out the second. On the contrary in God, whose activity is 
infinite, the mind begets all at once a thought equal to itself, 
as vast as itself, one which represents it entirely; and there 
is no need of a second, because the first has exhausted all that 
can be known, that is to say, the abyss of the infinite. That 
one, absolute thought, first born and last born of the mind 
of God, remains eternally in His presence as an exact repre- 



Correspondence with Converts. 183 

sentation of Himself, or to use the language of Holy Scripture, 
as His image, ' the splendor of his glory, and the express image 
of his substance.' It is His Word, His interior word, as our 
thought is also our word inwardly spoken, or spoken to our- 
selves. But there is this difference: God's word is a perfect 
word which says all that can be said in one utterance, which 
is eternally spoken without repetition. This is the word to 
which St. John refers, when he opens thus his sublime gospel: 
'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
Ood, and the Word was God.' Does not the morning begin 
to break now, dear young Lady? Can you not catch a faint 
glimpse of those interior relations which constitute the true 
unity, that wondrous infinite movement which constitutes the 
true life of God? But we are not yet at the end of our 
journey. Let me quote a little further. 

*' In the same way that in man his thought is distinct from 
his mind without being separated from it, so in God, His 
thought or intimate Word is distinct without being separated 
from the divine mind which engenders it. The Word is con- 
suhstantial to the Father, according to the expression of the 
Council of Nice which is only the energetic expression of the 
truth. But here, as elsewhere, there is between God and man 
a great difference. In man his thought is distinct from his 
mind with an imperfect distinction, because it is finite, and 
has no subsistence of its own; in God, however, His thought 
is distinct from His mind with a perfect distinction, because 
it is infinite." That is to say, it goes so far as to assume 
a distinct subsistence, a personality, although never separating 
from the Divine essence, never quitting the circle of the Divine 
life, but resting eternally in the bosom of the eternal Father 
in the unity of the same godhead. " The mystery of unity in 
plurality never accomplishes itself in our intelligence, and 
this is the reason why we cannot live in ourselves and of 
ourselves alone. We seek outside of ourselves for the aliment 
of our lives. We must go abroad for our society, and seek 
there a thought which is not ourself, but only akin to us. But 
with God, it is otherwise. In Him plurality is as absolute 
as unity, and, therefore, His life is passed entirely within 
Himself in the ineffable interlocution of divine person with 
divine person, of the unborn Father with His eternally 



184 Life Sketches O'F Father Walwoeth. 

begotten Son. God thinks, and in that thought He sees 
Himself as in another, but as in another who is so near to 
Him as to be only one substance with Himself. In contem- 
plating His own thought, beholding His own image, listening 
to His own Word, He can say in the ecstasy of the first and 
most real of all paternities that word which David heard: 
* Thou art my Son, to-day I have begotten thee.* To-day ! in 
this day which has no past, no present, no future; in this 
day which is the indivisible duration of changeless being, 
which is eternity." 

But thus far we have contemplated only the divine intelli- 
gence and left untouched the divine will. The action of the 
divine will, however, is necessary to complete the divine life. 
And in considering this we shall see arise in the field of our 
vision another august form if I may so name it, the adorable 
third Person of the Holy Grhost, Let us listen once more to 
Father Lacordaire. There is a charm in his language that 
relieves the labor of the mind : " The generation of the Son 
is not the only divine act " ( or rather, not the whole of that 
one great infinite act which constitutes the life of Glod. ) " It 
does not consummate His fecundity, nor complete His felicity. 
No, for not even in ourselves is the generation of thought 
the term where our life stops. When we have thought, a 
second act is produced; we love. Thought in us is a look of 
the soul which draws its object within the soul; love, on the 
other hand, is a movement which draws us out of ourselves 
toward that object to unite ourselves to it, and it to us, thus 
accomplishing fully the mystery of relations, that is, the 
mystery of unity in plurality. Here is plurality; for love is 
at the same time distinct from the mind, and distinct from 
the thought. Here is unity too; for while it proceeds from 
one and the other, it is after all the same thing essentially 
with both. It proceeds from the mind of which it is the act, 
and from the thought without which the mind would not see 
the object which it should love; and yet it remains one with 
both thought and mind in the same life-circle, where we 
still find all 'three, ever distinct and ever inseparable." 

It is the same thing in God, with that difference only which 
exists between the finite and the infinite. 

" From that coeternal, mutual regard which is interchanged 



Correspondence with Converts. 185 

between the Father and the Son, there is born a third term 
of relation, proceeding from both, really distinct from both, 
and elevated by virtue of its infinity even to a personality, 
and which is the Holy Grhost, that is to say the holy move- 
ment, the measureless and spotless movement of divine love. 
Thus, as in God the principle of intelligence is exhausted 
(that is, fulfilled or satisfied) by the generation of the Son, 
so love is exhausted in the production of the Holy Ghost, 
and by Him is completed the cycle of fecundity (productive 
activity) in tl^e divine life." 

What have we gained then, my dear young friend, by this 
philosophical analysis? We have found a Trinity or three 
necessary terms of relationship in the Divine life, all three 
belonging to it essentially, that is consuhstantial with it, by 
the very necessity of its constitution as a concrete, active, pro- 
ductive, infinitely intelligent and moral life. I do not profess 
to have demonstrated the Christian Trinity by philosophical 
argument alone; but receiving by faith, as you and I do, the 
New Testament revelation, and finding there the account of a 
wondrous Person descending from Heaven to clothe Himself 
with humanity, who styles Himself the Son of God, and arro- 
gates the incommunicable powers of divinity; who speaks 
nevertheless of another person, distinct from Himself in some 
respect, and yet after all one with Him, the Father; who tells 
us still of a third Person distinct from the Father and from 
Himself, because sent by one and both, and yet whose very 
name '*Holi/ Ghost," shows him to us as divine; who unites 
together the authority of all three in the great commission 
given to the Apostles ( Matt. 28 ) — I say, when by faith we 
accept this account, then philosophy which is nothing else 
but the necessary law of human reason requires us to sub- 
scribe to the Catholic creed : " 7 believe in God the Father 
Almighty — and in Jesus Christ His only Son, true God of 
true God, consuhstantial with the Father; and in the Holy 
Ghost the Lord and life-giver; " all three distinct from each 
other only in the interior pulsation of the divine life, but 
one with each other in the solidarity of the same divine 
and indivisible essence. 

Pardon me, dear young Lady, for not taking up your diffi- 
culties in the same way in which you present them. It seemed 



186 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

to me that your real difficulty was simply a philosophical one, 
and that if I could show you how God, although simple and 
indivisible in substance, is nevertheless multiplex or complex 
in the infinite movement of his interior life, that then your 
difficulty would disappear of itself. At all events I have made 
the experiment, and shall wait for your answer to see how I 
have succeeded. Do not become weary of the mental appli- 
cation which my argument requires, and yet read quietly and 
without anxiety. Time and repetition will make, I trust, all 
that seems at first difficult or obscure to become clear, for I 
am confident there is nothing in what I have written that an 
intelligent mind like yours cannot grasp. Or, if it should 
be necessary, I will endeavor at another time to approach this 
subject on a different side. In the meantime, I will pray 
earnestly that God may give you the grace to know Him with 
a clear unclouded faith, as He really is and has revealed 
Himself to us in His holy church, a sacred family of three 
Persons in the unity of one divine life. 

With the most sincere respect and interest, 

Yours truly, 

CLARENCE WALWORTH. 
Miss X : 

P. S. — The labor which I have bestowed upon this letter has 
given it some additional interest and value in my eyes, and I 
would be glad to retain a copy, but am absolutely unable to 
copy it engrossed as my time is. May I request that you will 
return it when you have done with it, or, if you think it worth 
the trouble, will send me a copy? 

The original letter was eventually returned, and 

was used in preparing the article on the Trinity 

which appeared in course of time in The Catholic 

World, 

X — to Rev. C. A. Walworth 

W , Vt., Apr. 7th. 

Rev. & Dear Sir — Your very kind letter having been re- 
tained by A to copy, you will pardon this tardiness in ac- 
knowledging and returning the same. 



CORRESPOJN^DENCE WITH CoNVEETS. 187 

Its contents are so faithfully transcribed to memory, so 
cordially, gratefully and unconditionally accepted by mind 
and heart, that I have hardly need to retain a copy for 
myself and A's will suffice for reference to a dear friend, 
similarly benighted. 

Admitting that the original manuscript has for me a pleas- 
ant value beyond any copy, I return it the more cheerfully 
in the hope that this " corruptible " manuscript may some- 
time put on " incorruptible " letter-press ; so supplying in its 
clearness, conciseness and reasonableness a great desideratum 
to many an earnest, sorrowful seeker of the Truth. 

The superior insight of my needs, coupled with the great 
precision of thought and felicity of expression, lifted me at 
once into your own thought, and sustained me there until 
conviction was rendered doubly sure. Just when I found my 
mind perplexed in the argument, came your kindly 
" Patience " — and the very moment I had said to myself 
" Light — Light " came the inquiry, " Is not the night 
breaking? " 

From thankful joy in the assurance " You believe enougli 
to carry with it the entire Catholic doctrine of the Trinity," 
I rose to the unconditional acceptance of " God in the Trinity 
with permission of my reason." 

Nor am I conscious of any essential modification of my 
views; only, by a gracious providence you have revealed me 
more clearly to myself and have, I believe, forever " laid " 
some unquiet doubts, and strengthened into convictions many 
vague half-analyzed impressions. 

For all this I am deeply grateful! I esteem it a Divine 
providence that I was finally directed to one so generous to 
labor for my good. — so wise and humble and patient to teach. 

Doubtless many of my perplexities have arisen in the igno- 
rance of many of the Protestant laity and clergy of the real 
doctrine of the Trinity, demanding of me the acceptance of 
such contradictions and absurdities as were not only disheart- 
ening but — well — exasperating, an outrage to reason and 
common sense. 

Our Episcopal Bishop, to whom I once presented myself for 
confirmation, pronounced my views Unitarian, although quite 
willing to receive me into the Church. 



188 Life Sketches cf Father Walworth. 

I could not find it right to recite a Trini creed with Uni 
sentiments. In the journey so auspiciously commenced, I may 
again and again come to my Spiritual Guide, before the Goal 
is reached, with his kind permission — (of which, I am sure, 
I am already possessed.) 

With supplications for your prayers and renewed assur- 
ances of the most grateful consideration. 

Very respectfully, 

X. 

P. S. — Should a generous interest prompt to further com- 
munications, you will still please to address under cover to A. 

Rev. A. Regnier, 8. J., to the Same. 

St. Joseph's Church, 

Tboy, July 21, 1866. 

Dear Rev. Sir — The lady convert whom you were pleased 
to send to me came yesterday. She was introduced by one 
of the Sisters of St. Joseph, who had traveled with her from 
Saratoga. I have attended to this interesting and indeed 
most consoling case with great care and to the best of my 
ability. And thanks to your valuable information and excel- 
lent recommendations, I fondly hope to have been instrumental 
in realizing your kind and earnest wishes for the spiritual 
welfare of the good Lady. She arrived here at about 10 
o'clock A. M., and half an hour after, she had gone through 
her confession. This first step, as might be expected, cost her 
a great deal. She was on the point of fainting when about to 
enter the Confessional, but she was quite relieved when this 
was over, and indeed appeared perfectly happy ever since. She 
made her abjuration and was baptised conditionally at 6 
o'clock in the evening in the presence of a Lady friend who 
stood for her, and of two Sisters of St. Joseph, and also of 
two other ladies who happened to be in the church at the 
time. She went through the long ceremonies of the baptism 
of adults with remarkable fortitude, with the simplicity of 
a child, and with all the piety and fervor of primitive Chris- 
tians. Finally I hear that she received Holy Communion 
this morning, at 6 o'clock in the Chapel of the Sisters. I send 
you all these details, for I know they will be as consoling to 
you as they were edifying to those who witnessed them here. 



Correspondence with Converts. 189 

I was out this morning and could not see the lady before she 
left. She had kindly asked of me a card with my name on it. 
Would you be so kind as to forward the enclosed little picture 
to her? I have not her exact address and I cannot otherwise 
very well do it. 

With many thanks for the pleasure which this occasion and 
your kind confidence have afforded me, I remain, dear Rev. 

Sir, Most truly yours in Xt., 

A. REGNIER, S. J. 

From Rev. E. Wadhams, to Rev. G. Walworth, Albany, N. Y. 

Rome, Italy, Dec. 22, 1865. 

My Dear Walworth — Many, many years ago, I received 
letters from you written from Holland and England,* and 
still remember how I envied you because you were in Europe. 
Now I am at Rome, Italy, and about to address you a letter, 
not for the purpose of causing you to wish to be in my place 
or with me even; but to perform a duty that I ought to have 
done long ago, and one that will give me quite as much pleas- 
ure and even more, perhaps, than it will yourself. 

Since I sailed from America, no day has passed in which 
you. Father Ludden and all connected with the house have 
not been in my mind, and always in my prayers. 

The excitement attending the packing of my trunk and all 
the speeches you made me are remembered, and still I have 
not written to you, and that neglect I feel even more than I 
can tell, now that I make the first essay. Hereafter, I will 
have more patience with the remissness of travelers. 

I am in Rome, and assisted at a solemn Pontifical Mass 
to-day at the Church of Santa Maria Cosmidene, on the occa- 
sion of the funeral of Cardinal Chaccio. The Mass was at 10 
o'clock. The Holy Father and a large number of Cardinals 
were in attendance, the Holy Father assisting at the Mass and 
giving absolution at the end. 

Our party had a place not more than ten feet from the 
Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, where the Pope knelt for 
sometime after entering the Church; so that I had a most ex- 



* For those letters see " Reminiscences of Edgar P. Wadhams," 
by Rev. C. A. Walworth ; Benziger Bros. 1893. 



190 Life Sketches o-f Fathee Walworth. 

cellent view of him, and a still better one when he was seated 
on a temporary throne near the brilliant chapel in which the 
body of the deceased Cardinal lay. The pictures of the Pope 
which we have are very correct likenesses of him. His 
countenance is heavenly, his step firm and his voice as musi- 
cal as ever. The Pope's Choir was in attendance, giving me 
an opportunity to hear the music of the " Dies Irae " and 
" Offertory " which is so remarkable and which pleases me 
more than I can tell. 

In the afternoon, Father Everett and I took a walk along 
the Corso to the Piazza del Populo, passing the walls of 
Rome through what was the old Flaminian Gate, and then 
we went through the high grounds belonging to the Borghese 
Family and obtained our first view of the Dome of St. Peter's 
distant fully one mile and a half. We gazed a long time, as 
it stood the only object, save the walls of Rome and tall 
cypress trees in the foreground, between us and the blue 
Italian sky. I left Father Everett and looked and wondered. 

Saturday. — The hours of to-day between 11 o'clock a, m. 
and 4 p. m. have been spent in and around St. Peter's. 
I have heard you say that you did not like the colonnade in 
front of it. I do not believe you would say so if you saw it, 
for no view that I have ever seen of it conveys an idea to the 
mind of the extent of space or ground it incloses. The front 
elevation of the Church would appear to greater advantage if 
the Vatican palace did not tower over it so much and crowd 
so near; that is all that may be said in the way of criticism. 

Mr. Hooker, the American Banker, gave a musical party 
in the evening. The attendance was very large, chiefly Ameri- 
cans, and a delightful time we had of it. 

Sunday. — Celebrated Mass at the Church of St. Charles 
Borromeo. To-morrow I go to the American College at 5:30 
o'clock to celebrate my Masses; and I desire you especially to 
tell Mr. Morange that I shall do here, as I always did at 
home, viz, : oflTer my first Mass for Eim and his family ; and do 
not forget to remember me in the kindest terms to them all. 

We dine with Dr. Chatard also to-morrow, after assisting 
at the Pope's Mass in St. Peter's at 10 o'clock. 

And now, dear Walworth, I must close my very imperfect 
letter. Please remember me kindly to the Bishop and all 



Correspo:ndence with Coi^verts. 191 

members of the House, to the Prestons, Austins, O'Callaghans, 
Traeeys, Mr. Curtin and Connick and all friends. My address 
is in care of Messrs. " Mackey, Pakenham & Hooker," Bank- 
ers, Rome. * * * Pray for me and believe me. 

Ever sincerely your friend, 

E. P. WADHAMS. 

From Father Becker, to the Same. 

New York, April 23, 1866. 

Deab Fathee Walworth — How comes on your "Tract?" 
The first one is out. The second, my own, will be out in a day 
or two. Several others are under way. 

The tracts will be sold less than cost, and for the same 
price anywhere in the country. It is essentially a missionary 
enterprise. The support of it will come mainly from the 
income from memberships. At the same time, it will require 
a general fund to make up any deficit. I have been engaged 
since Easter in getting up this general fund. As the interest 
is equal everywhere, the same as in N. Y., I hope the same 
effort will be made everywhere as here. I have subscriptions 
to the amount, up to the present, of $9,500. My subscribers 
are divided into three classes: — 1st, Apostles, of which I have 
now 11 — 2nd, Disciples, of which there are 7 — 3rd, Faithful, 
of which there are 18. The first are down for $500 — 2nd, 
$250 — 3rd, $100. In the latter are Abps. and priests mostly. 
There are others of smaller amounts. 

The sympathy and co-operation and appreciation of the 
work has surprised me, and made my task light. Many of 
the 1st class men do not hesitate to say that it is the greatest 
undertaking started in the Church in this country. 

The Abp. of Bait, will have it up before the Plenary Council 
in October. For the first time, I saw the other day, that in 
the council of /52 there was a decree made in favor of such an 
enterprise. He proposes now that every Bishop should ap- 
point a clergyman to act as its agent in their dioceses, and 
take up its interests. I enclose his tract. 

You will perceive that about 400 words make a page. Al- 
lowance should be made for heading and at the end. Your 
tract of 4pp. or 8pp. should be made accordingly. 

We are well. Spencer and Dwyer are both here as novices; 



192 Life Sketches O'F Father Walworth. 

and are both doing well. Hewit teaches Bodfish and Spencer 
theology & philosophy, & Young teaches Dwyer Latin. In 
July we take into the house, the students from Seton Hall. 
With Augustine Brady, this will make a band of six. 

I will send you more tracts — as they appear. 

Write me early about your own — and how many you will 
write — / depend on your pen for many — I think it is your 
gift. Faithfully yours, 

I. T. HECKER. 

From Father Hecker to the Same. 

May 30, 1866. 

Dear Father Walworth — I enclose two letters. One is I 
think from Dr. Newman, Hewit having just rec'd one in the 
same hand in thanks for F. Baker's life [i. e. the "Memoirs "]. 

Your subscriptions are on hand. How are they intended? 
As one year subscribers? Or shall we send to that amount of 
tracts now out? It is impossible to send each tract as it 
appears, since the postage would amount to more than the 
tracts or in any case be too expensive. 

My intention is to make the book-stores in each place the 
Depot for Tracts — until the Bishops appoint an agent. 

All this will be arranged in the Plenary Council in October 
next, when the subject will be brought up. Till then patienza! 
I will send you yours as you wish and direct. 

The other letter enclosed — perhaps, is for you. If not — 
send it to Ballyhack — or the P.O. either! 

Your tract is on hand, and read by me twice, parts more 
times. It is a snorter, and will make feathers fly ! ! ! I am 
for publishing it, but not by the Tract Society. It is too big 
a cannon for us to fire in our infantile state. It would knock 
us over after it had gone off. 

What I propose is to put it in the hands of the Temper- 
ance folks, and let them pub. & circulate. It will be more 
extensively circulated, and they will do it with animo. What 
say you? I will see that it is done. 

Your pen is the one for Tracts. In the start every one is 
polarized, and looking out to find something to pitch into. 
Give us a couple of such as you know are needed as things 
now are. 



Correspondence with Converts. 193 

No. 4 has been delayed for a wood-cut, and will be out 
to-day or to-morrow. No. 6 is in hands of the printers. 

All are well. I am rejoiced and again rejoiced at Mrs. 
Walworth's conversion.* Faithfully yours, 

I. T. HECKER. 

Father Walworth had occasional letters from 
Father Hecker as well as frequent visits up to the 
time of the latter's death, which occurred December 
22, 1888. As soon as he received, at Albany, the 
news of that sad event he went to ISTew York and 
attended the burial of this beloved comrade of his 
long missionary career. 

The following letter from !N"ewman, enclosed with 
the above, seems to belong here, the original still 
resting in the same " folds '' with Father Hecker's 
own, its companion in the mail from !N'ew York to 
Albany. Appleton had issued '' The Gentle Skeptic/' 

From John Henry Newman, to the Same. 

The Oratoby Bm., May 16, 1866. 

My Dear Fr. Walworth — Though I have left your kind 
present of your volume so long unacknowledged, you must 
not suppose it to have been any want of gratitude to you, or 
any want of interest in its contents. It treats of one of the 
main religious difficulties of the day, and is a noble attempt 
to meet our needs — and you deserve the thanks of all 
Catholics for making it. 

Then, why have I not written to you abovit it sooner? 
The reason has been that I am too much perplexed with your 



* This convert was Sarah Ellen, second wife of Hon. Reuben 
H. Walworth. She was baptised at the Albany Cathedral, her 
sponsor being Rev. Theodore Noethen, Pastor of Holy Cross 
Church, Albany. When she returned to Saratoga and told her 
husband with some hesitation of her change of faith, he con- 
tinued to look at his newspaper, saying curtly: " Well, well! " 
Then she added : " Now I will need a pew in St. Peter's Church." 
"Well, well!" said he, "get it;" adding after a pause, — " oonie 
to me for the price of it." Then he went on with his reading. 
She was a faithful Catholic till death. When too feeble to at- 
tend St. Peter's she had, in her widowhood, the privilege of 
Mass in her home, Father Walworth being the celebrant. 



194 Life Sketches O'F Father Wae worth. 

subject to be able to say anything upon it which will be worth 
saying, and I did not like to write without saying something. 
My perplexity arises out of the continually shifting condition 
of physical discoveries, and the indeterminateness of what is 
Catholic truth as regards their subject-matter, and what is 
not, in a province in which the Church has not laid down any 
definitions of faith. None but an infallible authority can 
separate Apostolical tradition from hereditary beliefs, and till 
this is done, we must be at sea how to think and how to speak. 

You have opened the subject well and boldly — and, while 
a writer so acts, and submits all he says to the judgment of 
the Catholic Church, his writings must tend to edification. 
But I am much interested to get information as to the matter 
of fact, whether your volume has been taken up, whether it 
has made a disturbance, whether it has elicited any other 
works on the subject. You are more outspoken in America 
than we are here. I do not know enough of the state of 
science and the teaching of divines to know whether what you 
have said may be safely said — but, if I held it ever so much, 
I should not dare to say it, — first in consequence of the 
scandal that it would (needlessly) give here, — and next be- 
cause I should be involved in a controversy, for which I have 
neither time nor relish nor strength. 

A letter like this is a poor return for your kindness — but 
it will be enough, I think, to show why I have delayed my 
acknowledgments to you, on an occasion when you would 
naturally be desirous to receive as many criticisms upon your 
work as possible. 

I am, my dear Father Walworth, most sincerely yours, 

JOHN H. NEWMAN. 

A Last Letter from Father Hewit to the Same. 

Church of St. Paul, the Apostle. 
Faulist Fathers, 

415 West Fifty-ninth Street, 

New Yobk, Sept. 3, 1894. 

Dear Father Walworth — A letter is one of those things 
which for a long time past has been such an unwilling task 
that I have made that a pretext for shirking it as much as 
possible. It would be very ungrateful, however, for me to 



Correspondence with Converts. 195 

omit acknowledging your letter and expressing my thanks for 
it. The sequel to " The White City " will appear in November. 

I am going back to Washington next week because I can 
do more good there than here, and not be any more uncom- 
fortable,"- We are about to found a new house in San Fran- 
cisco. 

I admire your fortitude and cheerfulness, and rejoice in all 
the good work you are still able to do. I send my kindest 
regards to your niece, and remain, 

Your devoted brother in J. C, 

A. F. HEWIT. 

Night Message, Western Union Telegraph Co. 

New York, July 4, 1897. 
To Rev. C. A. Walworth, 

St. Mary's Church, Albany. 

I announce death of Father Hewit at 9 o'clock to-night. 

GEORGE DESHON. 



* Thus slightingly does he refer to his increasing and acute 
suffering from an incurable malady. 



X. 

PASTOR OF HIS FLOCK. 

Thirty-four Years at St. Mary's, Albany — Notes of 

Sermons — A Peom on the Mass — Tribute 
j of a Former Curate. 

Little ones of Father Walworth's flock have 
grown up to manhood and womanhood, looking ever 
with loving reverence to their good pastor, and why 
not ? He baptised them, instructed them, absolved 
them; broke to them the bread of angels and of 
God's Holy Word; gathered them into sodalities as 
" a hen gathereth her chickens ;'' laughed with them 
on the wedding day ; sorrowed with them at the bed- 
side of loved ones. The generation who " thus 
walked through his heart/' month after month and 
year after year do not know him nor often think of 
him as hitherto shown in these sketches. Speak of 
him as the Tractarian, the Redemptorist or the 
Paulist — " Oh, yes ;" they might say, " Father said 
something about that ;" or, '' Grandma remembers 
one of his mission sermons." But then they go on 
in praise of St. Mary's, the brick and stone church 
he built on the site of the first Catholic place of 
worship in Albany. It was only the second in the 
whole State of 'New York aside from transient In- 
dian mission chapels of bark, on the banks of the 
Mohawk river and Onondaga lake. 

" I love every stone in St. Mary's," wrote sweet 
Mary Cassidy, the daughter of Ambrose, a fair flower 



Pastor of His Flock. 197 

of the parish, and truest of apostles there and in her 
home : intellectual, beautiful, loving and beloved. 
She was just then tearing herself away from dearest 
heart-ties to follow in the cloister at Kenwood the 
call of a Spouse who had said : " Every one that 
had left house or brethren or sisters or father or 
mother or wife or children or lands for My name's 
sake shall receive a hundred-fold." Her great-aunt, 
who was once chosen among the beauties of Albany 
to lead the dance w^ith General Lafayette, could not 
have been more beautiful than she to look upon. In 
Mary's eyes, however, no heroes found favor but 
those of the spiritual combat. When she had fin- 
ished her novitiate these words of the Psalmist came 
from her lips, as a winsome smile played there and 
she gave a quick upward glance of her happy eyes: 
''One day in Thy courts is better than a thousand/^ 
Afterward, when the pastor lay dyings he heard that 
this darling of his flock was also suffering and near 
to death. They were able to pray for each other 
during long hours of pain, and so, united in spirit, 
they entered the Eternal Fold. Who dare say its 
inclosure is so opaque as to hide from them those of 
us who loved them, and especially when we talk of 
them near the old church door. 

^^ Father Walworth used to say that we, each of us, 
own bricks in St. Mary's," declared a pious loiterer 
by its belfry tower. St. Gabriel, on its peak, was 
blowing his bronze trumpet to windward as usual, 
whilst fleecy cloudlets drifted across the sky. "And 
it is the honest truth ; my father had a large family, 
but he put in enough money when it was building 
to buy us each at least one of them. It was hard 



198 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

times, too, after that Civil War. But lie said we 
would never be the poorer for it, nor have we.'' 

^' Is it old St. Mary's you're looking for ? " says 
another, to a hesitating traveler, as he stands where 
four churches cluster. '^ You are at the very spot, 
and in good time. It is open in the afternoon from 
5 o'clock till the Angelus rings. Come right in. 
You'll see the largest altar in the United States, 
with Saint Michael standing on the top of the arch. 
And there are more angels than you can count, be- 
sides. They are all around the inside ! You knew 
the old pastor? Yes, he could preach, and none 
better. That light from the stained windows is fine, 
as you say, on the altar. But you should see it by 
electric light, when they are singing the Tantum 
Ergo, and on a bright morning. He planned it him- 
self, with all that wood carving, gilded balls and 
nuts, roses for Rosa Mystica, and a circle in front 
for God Everlasting. The large crucifix on the 
dome of the tabernacle can be easily seen from the 
last pew back, and is the center of all, as it should be. 
Perhaps he was thinking of pine trees in a grove 
when he set those two clumps of columns to hold the 
great altar arch. St. Michael's foot, as you see, is 
on the gilded keystone block. That arch was made 
in four pieces, two in front and two behind, to make 
it thick and massive. He wanted strong lights and 
heavy shadows, he said. ^Yhen those four pieces 
lay on the floor ready to be hoisted in place they 
reached all the way dowu the middle isle, from the 
sanctuary to the front door. The pastor was built 
on a large scale himself, and so w^as the altar." 

^' That's true," chimed in a member of the Altar 



Pastor of His Flock. 199 

Society. " It takes seven yards of linen to make an 
altar cloth for it, and not every one can iron them^ 
as they should be. But that seems little enough to 
do when we look at the white embroidered edge of 
that deep scallop, done by hand, along the whole 
seven yards.'^ " It was a Child of Mary who did 
that,'' spoke up a companion. '^ It was the same 
one who has given away so many little coats with 
capes to them for school children. I have heard 
that the family at home help her to sew on them. 
They have a pet name for her. She is called Peggy, 
the Boss. Happy are the people she bosses, for she 
never thinks of herself ! " Such are snatches of the 
conversation one hears around the doorway of St. 
Mary's in coming and going. 

On a second Sunday of the month exclamations 
like these were uttered : " Two hundred young men, 
with ribbons around their necks to hold a medal of 
the Blessed Virgin, and all marching up devoutly to 
communion! That's a sight that does one's heart 
good ! How those young men sing ! ' Lead, kindly 
light,' in chorus, with the sort of modulation they 
give to it, is fine. They seem to sing Faber's ' Sweet 
Sacrament ' with their whole souls. But when, at 
the end, they chanted Father Walworth's translation 
of the ^ Te Deum/ that was the best of all 1 It was 
slow, majestic and yet full of energy. They must 
have been singing a long time together." 

" Yes, the good pastor and his devoted assistants 
have been for a number of years working up that 
sodality. Faithful to communion and faithful at 
rehearsals! Plenty of esprit de corps!'' Father 
Walworth never let go his hold either on them or 



200 Life Sketches o-f Fathee Walworth. 

the choir or the Children of May. These last he 
formed to the custom of singing hymns daily at 
Mass in March and May, as well as on their com- 
munion Sundays. Every once in a while he had 
some hymn rejDrinted for them on slips, or he com- 
posed or translated one, consulting his organist for 
suitable music. People come from many parts of 
the city to hear the young men of the sodality when 
they sing vespers the Sunday following December the 
8th, and again for the Stahat Mater in Holy Week. 
It was not his way to give ice cream and social enter- 
tainments, but they all knew right well he loved the 
singing, and he had a niethod of his own by which to 
keep them at it, for the glory of God. The Temper- 
ance Guild, also, had their special Hymns, for Meet- 
ing and Parting; those who heard his altar boys at 
their best in the Dies Irw of the Requiem, and their 
plaintive chants between the Lenten Way of the Cross, 
or their glad Christmas and Easter carols, will feel 
their hearts thrill again at the recollection. If an 
altar boy failed to appear at the weekday Masses 
when appointed, he found next Sunday before High 
Mass that his pretty red cassock was in the pastor's 
library, and a personal interview in order before he 
could hope to don it again. '^ It is not the whole duty 
of an altar boy to show himself before his papa and 
mamma at a High Mass,'' he would say, and enough, 
besides, to bring the boy out in all kinds of weather. 
The writer once said to a former Saratoga pastor: 
" Your altar boys sing the same words between the 
Stations of the Cross that are used at St. Mary's in 
Albany." " That's where we learned them," said 
he, *^ I was down there to confession not long since 



Pastor of His Flock. 201 

and staid over night in the city. I was surprised 
when I went to St. Mary's to see the crowd of people 
at ^ the Stations ' and how attentive they were. I 
watched the service carefully and decided your uncle 
had a capital way of conducting it. So I imitate 
his method as well as I can in a smaller parish. The 
people are carried along with the spirited responses 
and singing, and those short and beautiful medita- 
tions of St. Liguori. They forget how many times 
they are bending their knees, and that is saying a 
good deal for the old folks, of whom I am one." 

The military Mass, that was so novel and impres- 
sive at St. Mary's in 1886, and which will be referred 
to later on, is not an uncommon service now on suit- 
able occasions in the Albany diocese. Thus in ever- 
widening circles, the influence of individual effort 
goes on, and the good works of a good priest bear 
fruit unto edification. Father Walworth thought his 
own people were the best God ever made. " Why 
look at that Vincent de Paul man, he has been doing 
good, quietly, like an angel, for years," the pastor 
would say, ^' and when I look at that great Rosary 
Society, I wonder at the number of good, holy people 
even saints, right here in Albany." 

Father Walworth was pastor of St. Mary's from 
1866 to 1900. This was his second pastoral charge, 
St. Peter's, Troy, being the first. His rectorship 
of the Albany Cathedral of the Immaculate Con- 
ception lasted only during the absence in Europe of 
its permanent rector, Pev. Edgar P. Wadhams, his 
dear friend and fellow-convert. At St. Peter's par- 
ish, in Troy, he had worked hard, though not long, 
both organizing parochial activities and reforming 



20'2 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

a horde of laborers in iron, attracted to that 
fast growing city by its newly-equipped foundries. 
He had been kept busy there by souls that were in 
peril from ignorance of their religion, and the machi- 
nations of secret societies. He had found a great 
lack of school opportunities in Troy which he rem- 
edied for his own parishioners by selecting a young 
I^ormal school graduate, who was still in the teens 
but bright and well trained, whom he set over other 
teachers, to open and manage a parish school. A 
very useful souvenir of this first pastorate was a 
chronometer watch, which he wore as long as his 
eyes were strong enough to read its face. A picture 
of St. Peter's 'Church is traced on the inside of the 
cover, and its inner gold case bears the following 
inscription : ^' Presented by the Congregation of St. 
Peter's Church, Troy, E". Y., to their beloved Pastor, 
Eev. C. A. Walworth, March 31, 1861." 

With the breaking out of the Civil War came 
many changes. It was about that time Father Wal- 
worth, with renew^ed strength, returned to the life of 
a missioner among the Paulists. In ^ew York he 
found regiments starting for the scenes of battle 
whom he would gladly have served as chaplain. 
Archbishop Hughes accorded him temporary duty 
of this sort among soldiers in camp on Staten Island. 
The Catholic volunteers made use of this chance, for 
many a last chance, to receive the sacraments. Their 
confessions were heard all night long by the light of 
a candle in a small tent. " Lights out ! " said a voice 
shortly after " taps." Two observant eyes were bent 
on a soldier, kneeling, above whose head a priestly 
hand was raised ; and the voice of command changed 



Pastor of His Flock. 203 

to a gentler tone: "All riglit, sir." ^ext morning 
conununion was given during Mass from an altar 
decked with '' the stars and stripes/' hastily im- 
provised in the largest of the tents. Anti-riot duty 
among recent emigrants, as already mentioned, be- 
sides parochial and missionary work, filled up parts 
of the busy years that followed. Many converts, 
also, were received. Among letters of this period 
came one signed " W. C. Robinson, formerly Rector 
of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Scranton." It 
announced the resignation of his charge and asked 
for an appointment in order to receive advice in the 
matter of joining the Catholic Church. This gentle- 
man was afterward for years a professor in the Yale 
Law School, and resigned that post to enter the 
faculty of the Catholic University at Washington. 
Previous to this letter he and Father Walworth had 
traveled together from Scranton to New York city, 
discussing church questions eJi route in a railway 
train. 

Archbishop Hughes died during the war. His 
successor, who became the first of American car- 
dinals, wrote the follovvdng lines, which, sufficiently 
for present purposes, will account for Father Wal- 
worth's reappearance in Albany and subsequent 
duties among the clergy of that diocese. On arrival 
he reported promptly at the Cathedral, serving as 
rector there while Father Wadhams visited Rome 
and Palestine. On the return of his friend to 
America he received from Bishop Conroy his ap- 
pointment to St. Mary's. 



204 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

ArchhisJiop McCloskey to Rev. Clarence A. Walworth. 

New York, July 31, 1865. 

Rev. Dear Father Walworth — I ought to have made 
earlier acknowledgment of your kind favor of 17th inst., but 
I am sure that considering my multiplicity of duties and the 
very hot weather, you will hold me excused. 

Much as I regret the loss not only to your former asso- 
ciates, but also to this city and diocese, which your departure 
from among us occasions, still I can find no fault either with 
the step which you have taken, or the motives by which it 
has been prompted. In quitting the Paulists your obedience 
naturally reverted to the diocese of Albany, which I congratu- 
late on the accession, and where I hope you may be long 
spared to labor in the good cause. 

Wishing you health and blessing, I remain, Reverend Sir, 
Very sincerely. 
Your friend and brother in Xt, 

JOHN, ABP. OF NEW YORK. 

The recipient of this letter seems to have reached 
the Albany diocese at a most opportune time, as the 
Bishop found him especially useful to him in help- 
ing two Tractarian students of St. Stephen's, Anan- 
dale, into the arms of the Catholic Church and the 
ranks of the priesthood. One of them, Pather 
Dwyer, served many years as a Paulist, and the 
other. Father Spencer, became a Dominican prior. 

When Father Walworth accepted the charge of St. 
Mary's, in Albany, the old second church of that 
parish (into which, as a boy of ten, he had once 
drawn a playmate to hear the vesper music), was 
crumbling slowly to decay. The roof was leaking in 
more than one place. A debt of $40,000 was hang- 
ing over it which had to be cleared away before he 
could even hope to plant his foot on financial terra 
firma with a view to improvements. Affairs, how- 



Pastor of His Flock. 205 

ever, were in a very different shape in 1890, when 
increasing blindness made continuously necessary to 
him the services of an amanuensis and determined 
him to hand over the financial management of the 
parish to a newly constituted vice-rector, to whose 
care he confided his carefully kept record and treas- 
urer's books. He had built a hundred thousand dol- 
lar church — but without the belfry, which has been 
since added — and he had done it, not in halcyon 
days, but in the hard times that followed a civil war. 
The work of teaching in the parish school was carried 
on by from five to eight teachers, either religious 
or lay people. He had usually two assistant priests. 
The choir music Avas of a high order. Employees 
were held to strict account. Revenues covered cur- 
rent expenses. The whole amount of parish debt 
remaining unpaid was $12,000. That amount of 
cash he afterward gave and bequeathed to St. Mary's 
parish from his own purse, over and above certain 
landed interests adjoining church properties, which 
he had bought on his own account in order to secure 
St. Mary's Church against possible undesirable 
neighbors. With the above-mentioned cash, ground 
was secured before he died for a new parish building 
to contain schoolrooms, with modem equipments, 
which his able vice-rector and successor in the pas- 
torate has erected and zealously labored to clear of 
debt. It is known as Centennial Hall. The archi- 
tectural design is pleasing and accords well with the 
church, winning the eye with its roimd arches. 
Whilst Father Walworth managed the finances 
schools were carried on in an ancient rectory which 
is now the convent of the school sisters of ISTotre 



206 Life Sketches of Father WaI/WOKTh. 

Dame in Pine street and in another dwelling-house 
that stands next to the front door of the church. 
These were adapted to school purposes, though not 
so huilt. His delay in erecting a schoolhouse was 
for reasons sufficient to his own mind and not from 
any lack of interest in the children. To him, with 
memories of log-cabin schools and college woodpiles 
that were never a stumbling-block to the learning of 
a Lincoln nor the culture of the poet-student Bryant, 
these solid brick, well-heated buildings seemed com- 
modious enough for the primary and grammar 
schools of his parish, at least until the church debt 
was substantially cleared. He spared no pains in 
the selection of teachers, instructing them carefully 
as to his requirements. Yearly contracts for coal 
brought a generous supply to the church, the house 
and especially the school, for he was ever tender of 
the needs of the little ones. For their elders he took 
care to have a 7 o'clock Mass, when at all pos- 
sible, even by great sacrifice. It was to be counted 
on, week days as well as Sundays. This he called 
the ^^ Parish " or " Community " Mass. In cold 
winter weather he considered that the basement 
chapel, where he had reverently placed the altar of 
Cardinal McCloskey's first cathedral, afforded ample 
space for week-day congregations. " Those who can 
should come to the Mass daily," he would say, " at 
least throughout Lent and during the month of May." 
*^ 'No other devotion takes its place ; but of course 
home duties and legitimate business or labor must 
not be neglected by those who have families to look 
after, or the aged or sick in their care. They must 
wait for the Sundays and holidays. I say not all. 



Pastor of His Floce:. 207 

but all who can." In Lent St. Augustine's " Steps 
of Our Saviour's Passion " was recited by priest and 
people after Mass, and in Advent tbe " Steps of Our 
Saviour's Childhood." There w^ere usually commu- 
nicants on the week days. Invariably, from pulpit, 
or platform on Sundays, most careful announcements 
were given out, one week in advance, to the different 
sodalities to prepare for their monthly communions. 
Practically the whole permanent congregation was 
gathered into some one or more of these sodalities. 
At intervals, both Paulist and Redemptorist mis- 
sions were preached at St. Mary's by his request. 
" Missions/' he said, '^ arouse the faith and con- 
science; but sodalities are invaluable for forming 
virtuous habits. The sodalities are the life of my 
parish. The Word of God must be preached in 
season and out of season, the faith must be instilled, 
especially into the young, but above all, unfailing 
habits of virtue must be formed, and for this the 
monthly communion is most important." To give 
special conferences to the Children of Mary was 
ever a labor of love with him, nor were they weary 
in listening to him. He would come into the base- 
ment chapel on the afternoon of their communion 
day, in his declining years, with one hand thrust 
in the girdle of his overlapping cassock and a thick 
cane grasped in the other on which, at times, he 
leaned heavily. A small black skull cap, of silk or 
velvet, crowned his white locks^ and he came a few 
steps down the aisle between the seats. He was in 
no hurry to begin, but seemed, if one may use the 
expression, to feel his way to his audience. He 
looked them over deliberatelv, whether or not he 



208 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

could see tliein distinctly, and by the time he was 
ready to open his lips all eyes were upon him. It 
was something like the ''Make ready; take aim; 
fire ! " of the trained marksman. One began to feel 
at once that not a word would fall wide of its mark, 
and watching the play of thought over his expressive 
face, one began instinctively to wonder what was in 
his mind. These talks to his sodalists were simple, 
practical, with little of either rhetoric or history in 
them, and yet, withal, so elevating. The hearers 
felt that he was talking right into their souls, giving 
them something that would apply to every day and 
all day long, putting thoughts into their minds that, 
if they could only hold on to them, would make lumi- 
nous with inward joy all the hum-drum of existence. 
Then all at once a ripple of girlish laughter would 
break over the motionless group as he pointed some 
suggestion with a witticism or an anecdote, quieting 
down to a sedate smile, perhaps, as it died out among 
the benches of older members. The pastor seemed 
always pleased to have these remain in the sodality, 
as well-seasoned timber for good works ; and, safe bal- 
last when carrying a heavy weight of sails to bring 
in a rich cargo to his treasury, when there was a 
church fair. He was very much averse to allowing 
young children, and especially little girls, to go about 
the city soliciting for church purposes. " They are 
the readiest to volunteer,'^ he would say, '' but for 
lack of discretion are likely to do more harm than 
good, both to themselves and the cause they are eager 
to advocate, from mere love of novelty.'' 

The sodalists trained under Father Walworth to 
usefulness, in their devotion to home duties, in chari- 



Pastor of His Flock. 209 

ties, sewing societies, care of the sick and destitute, 
instruction of children and in love of sacred music, 
are still witnessing in many parishes far and near to 
his wisdom and zeal. Some are dwelling by domestic 
firesides, some in religious communities ; some pre- 
side over official homes ; some are school teachers. 
Some, too, have become martyrs of industry in their 
brave efforts to support afflicted relatives. 

One day he told the Children of Mary he wanted 
them to join a new society. '^ Everybody is starting 
new clubs : we have many ; let me see, if I can name 
them." And he had at his tongue's end a rigamarole 
of grouped initials, beginning with the familiar Y. 
M, A. of old Albany. He rattled them off with a ra- 
pidity that was at first a surprise to his hearers, but 
soon they were convulsed with laughter as the combi- 
nations of letters became more and more absurd. 
AVith the ingenuity of an old sea captain telling yarns 
he led them quickly from plain truth to nonsense. 
Then he began to pique their curiosity about his new 
society till they were full of interest. At last, he said 
he had found a name for it, and the initials were 
M. Y. O. B. '^ It is of the greatest importance just 
at this time, and I want each and every one of you 
to do your very best to join it. The M. Y. O. B. 
society is sure to be a success if you do." Then he 
explained that M. Y. O. B. stands for the plain old 
words : '' Mind your own business/' and the subject 
of his talk was : Duty. Those who heard it will often 
recall what he said on that subject when they see the 
headings with club letters in print. 

Recollections of happy weddings solemnized in his 
parish church doubtless played through the Pastor's 



210 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

thouglits as lie wrote these lines of his joyous song of 
a village inn, taken from page 60 of his '^ Andiato- 
rocte, and Other Poems : " 

The landlord sits in his old arm-chair 

Therein, therein; 
And the blaze shines through his yellow hair 

Therein. 
There cometh La^^er Bickerstith, 
And the village doctor, and the smith. 

Therein, 
Full many a tale they spin. 



The landlord has a daughter fair 
Therein, therein. 
In ringlets falls her glossy hair 
Therein. 



I see her at church on bended knee; 
And well I know, she prays for me 

Therein, 
Sure, that can be no sin. 



Our parish Church has a holy priest 

Therein, therein; 
When he sings the Mass he faces the east. 

Therein. 
On Sunday next, he will face the west 
When Annie and I go up abreast. 

Therein, 
And carry our wedding ring. 

So much for his care of the sheep and lamhs who 
pastured near him in happiness or at least in peace of 
soul. But how about the lambkin that went astray ! 
He once prepared a child for her First Communion, 



Pastor of His Flock. 211 

carefully, as usual. The Pastor and his assistants 
sat outside the sanctuary rail when examination time 
came, after weeks of instruction given after school 
hours by them ; and, one by one, the children of about 
twelve years of age came up to be catechised and 
passed on to a listmaker, or rejected and sent home, 
disappointed. This child managed to get through, 
but alas! she had a drunken mother who was a 
widow. Two years usually elapsed between First 
Communion and Confirmation, during w^hich time 
attendance at Sunday school was required. Hun- 
dreds of girls were divided into classes under lay 
teachers, in the upper church. The boys, taught 
by laymen, filled the completely benched basement 
chapel and library ; the younger ones only being under 
the instruction of ladies, in the smaller Lodge street 
school building. At that time there were no pews 
as yet in the north gallery of the church, but low 
steps upon which the boys sat during vespers, being 
marched there from two directions. 

The great Christmas tree celebrations were in the 
church basement. All the presents were marked and 
graded as rewards for attendance and lessons. This 
laborious marking for many was done by their lay 
teachers who met in the rectory for that purpose. 
The second floor rooms resembled at such times a 
book and doll shop. 

The unfortunate child of the intemperate widow 
gradually dropped out of the Sunday school and was 
no longer seen at Mass, when to the Pastor's dismay, 
he learned one day from talking with her neighbors 
that she was in the clutches of a foul hag of the city, 
a woman of commanding mien and some vestiges of 



212 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

a queenly gipsy beauty. He noted down the address, 
secured all necessary information, saw for himself 
that the mother was little if at all short of a hopeless 
imbecile, and then made his plans forthwith. One 
of his parishioners chanced to be the Chief of Police. 
He received an unexpected call from Father Wal- 
worth, who had secured a closed carriage. ^^ I want 
you to take a drive with me, Chief," he said ; " I 
have nothing officially for you to do. There are not 
enough witnesses ready to testify in public, for that. 
But the moral effect of your badge will be useful to 
me for the next ten minutes or so.'' 

^' Certainly, Father Walworth," said he, heartily, 
" I am at your service." And he entered the carriage 
after the priest. 

As they drove toward an unsavory neighborhood, 
he told the Chief of the girl, not yet sixteen, whom 
he hoped to place under better tutelage. He found 
he had a whole-souled second. The Chief approached 
the woman, quick-witted gypsy that she was, in the 
most formidable way, having once quietly secured ad- 
mittance in the hallway for himself and the priest. 
It looked for a time as if they would get no further 
without an uproar. But their two heads were better 
than her one, and Father Walworth secured a two 
minutes' conversation with her victim whilst with an 
air of injured dignity she argued with the Chief. 
The wanderer was already disenchanted and sobbed 
bitterly at sight of her Pastor. " Do you want to 
leave this place ? " said he ; " it was hinted to me that 
you did." 



Pastor of His Flock. 213 

'^ Oh, yes, Father, anywhere, anywhere but here," 
she said stifling her sobs. '^ But the baby ! What 
shall I do ? God help me ! " 

^' Come with us," said he quickly, ^' there is a 
place for you and your baby in New York city. You 
may go with it to the Sisters. I'll pay your way. 
Bring it and get into that carriage." 

Her face brightened. '^ The Sisters, the w^hite 
caps ! Oh, Father, you're good to me ! But," she 
added with a look of terror, " I'm afraid." 

" Of what ? " said he. 

'^ Of her," said she, pointing to the hag. " She'll 
never let me go, she'll kill me first. She frightens 
me so, if I don't mind her." And again she sobbed. 

^^ E'onsense," said he, '^ that is the Chief of Police. 
She cannot keep you -^ye minutes longer, if you know 
your own mind. Get the child and come ! " 

^^ 'Noy she won't," said the older woman, turning 
toward her. " I forbid you " — 

^' Yes, she will," 'said the Chief with a grim smile, 
gripping the door knob as the slight figure darted by 
him into the hall and up the stairs. The other three 
were now in the front room. " Sit down, Madam," 
continued the official, " and rest yourself a moment, 
till we are ready to go." The baffled woman looked 
from one to the other of the determined faces before 
her and decided to obey the suggestion, resuming her 
air of injured dignity and only once opening her 
lips to mutter : " The girl is a fool, I am the best 
friend she ever had." 

The others said nothing, but promptly followed 
the waif and her wee one into the carriage, and drove 
rapidly off. Their next stop was at the Convent of 
the Sisters of Charity. 



2114 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

" Sister Mary/' said the Pastor, '^ can you keep 
this young mother and babe over night? As you 
know, there is as yet, in our city, no home for 
friendless infants. I will send them on an early 
train to-morrow to the nearest foundlino; asvlum of 
your order." 

" Yes, Reverend Father ; I see she has no fear but 
that the Sisters will care for her." With head bent 
low, she had retired into the darkest corner of the 
hall. 

" Grood-night, Sister, I must arrange for her jour- 
ney at once. I will see you again in the morning." 

The next night found this wilted blossom of poor 
humanity safely housed in the tenderest of homes 
for such as she, the great 'New York Foundling Asy- 
lum, where there were new friends to be made, 
where she could receive regular employment as nurse, 
and be trained to industrious self-support. 

The Pastor with a sigh of relief read of her wel- 
come there, then he turned his thoughts again to the 
ninety and nine of the flock for whose benefit a ser- 
mon must be prepared. What wonder that the sub- 
ject uppermost in his thoughts just then, over and 
above parental vigilance, was Temperance, his being 
a mind that went to bottom facts. " Be sober and 
watch brethren," — you above all, fathers and 
mothers, ^ for your enemy, the devil, goeth about as 
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 

I do not know whether it was about this time or 
later that he entered the church one day, during Sun- 
day school time and, to the surprise of all, called two 
of the older girls from their seats who were laughing 
and talking noisily. Speaking in a clear voice, he 



Pastor of His Flock. 215 

told them thev had been sufficiently warned ; thev 
continued to frequent forbidden haunts ; their be- 
havior on the public street should not be imitated 
by any child there present; and since they came to 
their classes not to learn better behavior from good 
companionship, but to dishonor God in His holy 
place and to spread among decent children disorder 
and contagion of evil speech, they no longer belonged 
to St. Mary's Sunday school. '^ You cannot right 
yourselves in a day/' said he in substance, " only 
a long and severe penance can fit you for com- 
panionship with these children sent to me by their 
parents to be taught what is good, not evil. Go ! " 
said he, " Go ! " with an emphasis that turned some 
faces there as white as the cheeks of the culprits were 
red, whilst they, the two, passed down the aisle and 
out at the church door. 

" It was awful ! " said a teacher who described the 
scene, " I do not see how anv one who heard him sav 
that last word could ever forget it." 

I have not heard what became of the girls. Other 
Sunday schools in the city were still open to them, 
and they may possibly have retrieved themselves at 
some of these. If the Pastor acted as on a later 
occasion after he had quietly dropped several from 
his parochial school of a mutinous tendency, who 
were found implicated in a theft, he saw and talked 
long with the parents. This gave him a chance to 
show them his intense desire to reform their way- 
ward ones, which he claimed could be much better 
done whilst they were apart from other companions. 
In the latter case, he gently and patiently proved to 
the parents ho\v much simpler and easier it would 



216 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

have been for him to report the culprits to the police 
than to have taken the course he chose He soon 
won them to co-operative measures. This last-men- 
tioned affair, of a period long gone by and forgotten^ 
was never even whispered beyond the knowledge of 
the priests, teachers and relatives of the young people 
concerned, who were never afterward known to com- 
mit a like offense. 

Father Walworth taught the children a song of the 
Ten Commandments in rhyme, to the refrain of 
which, on his visits to the day school, he would beat 
time with his cane; and sometimes at its close, by 
his imitation of a bandmaster's movements, he got 
them into a gale of laughter, so they were sure to 
sing it for him with zest. Between each couplet 
came the words: 

" These are tke holy Commandments given 
To man on earth, by God in Heaven." 

The music was that of a measured and majestic 
march, suggesting the tread of an army. When sung 
as he taught it, by hundreds of young voices, it not 
only stirred the heart with the joy of music, but in- 
cited the soul to religious reverence. 

When the Pastor delegated authority to subordi- 
nates, he left them much freedom for individual 
activities. '"' If a man tries to do everything him- 
self in a large parish," he would say, '' he gets much 
done to suit him, but much is also left undone. It is 
not well to muzzle the ox that treads out the corn; " 
and again, ^' in organizing a Sodality or a good work 
of any kind, begin with a few, a very choice few and 
dorht blow your horn. Little by little, it will grow 



Pastor of His Flock. 217 

like the mustard seed, like the Church, like the re- 
ligious orders. In the Gospels, in the Lives of the 
Saints, you will find it so. Holy wisdom teaches us 
that really great works have humble beginnings. 
^ext to St. Liguori, he admired St. Vincent De 
Paul. From him he learned another favorite maxim : 
'' II ne faut pas s'enjamber sur la Providence/' He 
was wont to translate it ruggedly, thus : '^ Do not 
lock legs with Providence,'' and then he would ex- 
plain. ^' While you are planning, God is planning. 
You may have everything all cut and dried as to 
what you will do and rush ahead, to be tripped up 
by some unforeseen incident. Leave margins beside 
your text. Look to God, and act in conjunction, 
when the time comes, with events He is ordaining 
of which as yet you know nothing. Leave margins 
every time. Do not lock legs with Providence/' He 
always used a striking clock, and had a brief prayer 
for its stroke : ^^ Grant, O my God, that I may love 
Thee, in time and in eternity ! " 

The men of the parish respected his wisdom and 
for the most part upheld him steadily and loyally in 
his plans. Some few were driven by his onslaughts 
upon liquor saloons to give up their seats and go else- 
where, but a greater number even from distant parts 
of the city came to pledge themselves in his presence 
to total abstinence for a year or such time as he 
should advise. It came to be said of him : " Father 
Walworth's pledge is a clincher." He administered 
it very solemnly and usually after more than one 
interview. It was carefully fitted to the particular 
case, as to details. More than once he had to say: 
" Go home, and come when you are sober." Perhaps 



218 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the man had come with his wife and taken a bit to 
screw up his courage. St. Mary's annual excur- 
sions in barges on the Hudson were great family af- 
fairs, the event of the season. Iso liquor was allowed. 
The people gave generous donations, bought tickets 
and then paid for the dinner, delighted if a large 
profit resulted. Parish rules were few but strict. 
Pews unpaid for after a reasonable time were locked 
up till relet. The trustees were laymen, well known 
in business or as in the case of Mr. Patrick Mc- 
Quade, prominent in educational affairs, who went 
over his vouchers annually, and these covered all 
parish expenditures from one dollar in amount up- 
ward. If he and they were satisfied, he considered 
that the people should be, and did not publish de- 
tails, sending his report promptly on to the Bishop. 
These trustees gave the greater part of three Sun- 
days semi-annually to receiving and recording pew 
rents, seating themselves for that purpose at a table 
in or near the Sacristy, l^ear at hand was the bap- 
tistry. St. Mary's baptismal font in white marble is 
in strong contrast with the oak and black walnut pul- 
pit and Communion rail, all designed in their 
massive simplicity by the pencil of Father Walworth, 
as his drawings show. The Blessed Virgin's altar, 
also of white marble and set in a deep recess on the 
other side of the church, was the gift of his friend 
and parishioner. Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan, author of 
the Documentary and Colonial Histories of l^ew 
York State. Mr. William Morange, who delighted to 
count himself as organist in reserve for old St. 
Mary's, was another great friend. He has well been 
called the Poet-Laureate of Albanv. The conversa- 




FATHER WALWORTH. 



Pastor of His Flock. 219 

tion of these three was of a lovial and wittv char- 
acter. To know these congenial spirits and to meet 
them when in conjunction, for pnre companionship, 
was to love them and to laugh. They sometimes 
took part in old-fashioned whist parties — of the 
sedate kind — at the Cassidy home in Chapel street, 
at the foot of Pine street, near Saint Mary's lady 
chapel. This pleasant home was a rendezvous for 
cultured Catholics of Albany, Burtsells, Caggers, 
Austins, Tracys, Worthingtons and others, and for 
those of the State when at the Capitol. It was one 
of the properties belonging to William Cassidy, his 
oldest sister. Miss Frances Cassidy, presiding there 
with gracious dignity through many years. 

Relatives of Father Walworth from Saratoga when 
visiting Albany were also made welcome at that 
house. He had not been Pastor of St. Mary's Church 
very long when he was summoned suddenly to his old 
home at Saratoga. It was, alas, to witness the de- 
parture from earth of his honored and beloved 
father. Clarence held him in his arms while they 
recited together the Lord's Prayer, acts of faith, 
hope and charity and the Chancellor's favorite among 
the Psalms of King David: Dominus regit me, or 
as in English from the Hebrew : ^' The Lord is my 
Shepherd, I shall not want." Then his breath failed 
him. He wanted no prayers at the last but those he 
could say with his son, the priest of God. Slowly and 
solemnly, the dying man recited the words of all 
these prayers, taking them up one by one as they 
came from the lips of Father Walworth. " In the 
shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art 
w^ith me." In his will he made this son an equal 



220 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

sharer witti his brother and sisters in the family prop- 
erty. Besides, he had appointed Clarence, together 
with his son-in-law, Rev. Jonathan Trumball Backus, 
to act as executor of the estate. He made it quite 
clear, however, in the document, that he wished 
Father Walworth later to will the capital thus inher- 
ited to some one or more of the Chancellor's many 
descendants w^hom he might choose to favor. As was 
anticipated, Clarence selected as heirs his brother's 
children, who bore the family name and belonged to 
the Catholic Church. To this arrangement, their 
Protestant relatives were prompt to give a cheerful 
and generous assent. To assist in the education of 
these children and to foster their faith as far as pas- 
toral duties permitted became to Father Walworth a 
labor of love and duty of honor to the wishes of his 
father. His correspondence with that father has al- 
ready shown us how deeply he felt his indebtedness to 
him, and how heartfelt was his gratitude. 

Whilst Pastor of St. Mary's, Father Walworth 
took up the cause of the poor in many a hard-fought 
civic contest. He was able also by thrifty use and 
care of his inherited income to give copiously and 
quietly to their needs. In his priestly household at 
St. Mary's Rectory there was tender consideration 
for industrious employees in times of sickness and 
need. 

What shall be said of the long line of his assistant 
clergy ? There were usually two of these at a time 
residing with him. Their intercourse seemed like 
that of a father with his sons. Their friends found 
a hospitable welcome at his board and when these 
young curates left him to become in their turn pas- 
tors, there was weeping and there was wailing 



Pastor of His Flock. 221 

through the parish. Here are some of their names: 
Fathers Taney, Reilly, Kennedy^ Brower, Maguire, 
Mclncroe, ^Ic Donald, McDermott, Maney, Lanahan, 
Desautels (called by the people " Daisy '' for short) 
and Craig. Another of the assistant priests was 
Father Casey, who was called from the parish to 
aid in the duties, and receive the dying blessing, of 
an aged relative of the diocesan clergy, xlfterward 
came Father Judge from a course at the new Dun- 
woodie Seminary, to share, in his turn, the old parish 
burdens and the people's love. His parents had been 
married by Father Walworth when he was in charge 
of St. Peter's Church at Troy; and had received 
from him on that occasion a crucifix which is still 
treasured in the family. Father Judge was given, in 
God's providence, to be the comfort and the reverent 
consoler of the evening of a good pastor's life. He 
was the youngest and last of his curates, the Ben- 
jamin of many holy brethren. He rendered filial 
service to him on his last " Retreat," and from him 
Father Walworth received his last Communion. It 
was not his curate, however, but Rev. John J. Dillon, 
his Yice-Rector, the zealous first assistant of many 
long years, who gave him the last anointing. The 
heaviest responsibilities of the parish for a decade 
back had been borne by Father Dillon, under whose 
care the belfry was completed and the whole church 
renovated and adorned. He it was whom Rt. Rev. 
Bishop Burke eventually chose to succeed Father 
Walworth in the pastorate. 

What has yet to be written in other chapters of this 
venerated -pastor, whose charge extended over thirty- 
four years will dwell, — not upon details of parish 



222 Life Sketches op Father Walworth. 

duty, but rather upon his recreations, his civic and 
literary career, and the fortitude developed by his 
loss of sight, which never lessened his industry. Be- 
fore turning aside to these phases of his character 
however, it seems not amiss to describe here his last 
appearance as Pastor at a parochial funeral. This 
time a lamb of his flock had been sacrificed on the 
altar of his country, and the body was brought from 
its island grave to the door of old St. Mary's, where 
the nation's flag was floating from the belfry, and 
had been ever since her boys marched away to the 
Spanish War. 

Slowly, gently, under the broad arch, they car- 
ried in the remains of Lieutenant Wansboro of the 
Seventh Infantry, IT. S. A. He had gradu- 
ated from the Brothers' Academy and from West 
Point. He was killed at El Caney, Cuba, in most 
gallant action, as reported by the British representa- 
tive. Captain Lee. Albanians will long remember 
his funeral. !Not so much of military splendor had 
been seen on a similar occasion in the city since the 
remains of General Grant were escorted to the 
Capitol to lie in state there in 1885 ; so said The 
Argus in its lengthy description of the organiza- 
tions present. Rev. J. J. Dillon, Vice-Rector, was 
celebrant of the Mass. Father Walworth met the 
remains at the door and escorted them to the bier in 
front of the altar, whilst the military presented arms. 
It was a picturesque scene. Attendant upon the 
Pastor, who had not sight enough to walk unaided, 
was the negro volunteer, Lemuel Jackson, but re- 
cently discharged, with honor, from a man-of-war. 
Short and sturdy, in a marine uniform and leggings, 



Pastok of His Flock. 223 

he trod near tlie tall priest, alert to care for him, 
his left arm draped with an ecclesiastical cloak. 
When the priest reached his accustomed seat near the 
altar Lemuel wrapped him in the folds of the cloak 
and went to station himself near a confessional by 
the vestry door during the Requiem Mass. In the 
course of his remarks Father Meegan, the preacher, 
said : ^' Surely I need not speak to you of Tom 
Wansboro. He was horn and bred among so many 
of you. He was raised here in this parish, and the 
old church — mother of them all — honors him to- 
day and is herself honored in turn by the career of 
such a son. The venerable Pastor, grey-haired and 
enfeebled as he is, is in the sanctuary to-day to honor 
by his presence the young man who grew up under 
his care. '" ^ ^ ' Second Lieutenant Wans- 
boro of the Seventh Infantry, sir,' said the soldier 
who bore him from the field, ^ and you will never 
see his better.' " 

So to the very end, over and above all else. Father 
Walw^orth was Pastor of his flock, and right well they 
knew the sound of his voice, l^early to his eighti- 
eth year he continued to preach in turn with his 
assistants every third Sunday. 

He was a consultor of the diocese under three 
bishops. Bishop Conroy, Bishop Mc^eirny and the 
present Bishop of Albany. 

The following words of his own, with which to 
conclude this chapter, are taken from Father Wal- 
worth's manuscripts and scrap-books. To these are 
added one letter which gives a glowing tribute to 
the graces of his pastorate. Its words are 
those of a disciple of his who attained rapid 



224 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

promotion to ecclesiastical honors. The notes 
of a lecture given at St. Mary's, Albany, 
for sweet charity's sake, will come first. The 
second selection is a sermon preached at that 
same church to his own people in 1886, but also of 
general interest to all good Americans, its subject 
being ^' The Rights of Labor." It was more than 
up-to-date when preached and its echo of a mission 
sermon only goes to prove how ably he could throw 
the light of old truth on new needs. A non-Catholic 
fellow-'citizen thanked him for this sermon. It had 
enabled him, he said, to complete in peace a building 
which a threatened strike would have left unfinished 
like the Tower of Babel. This was interesting 
though incidental news to the preacher, who pro- 
ceeded to follow out his preconceived plan and put 
quite as much moral gunpowder into its sequel on 
" The Obligations of Property." This last was 
more particularly aimed at the consciences of the 
wealthy. Other selections follow, among them a 
parish protest against the laying of certain railway 
tracks and an unpublished poem, describing the daily 
parochial Mass. The poem was dictated April 5, 
1898. 



Pastor of His Flock. 225 

From Father Walworth's | 
Memoranda C 

NOTES 

FOR 

A Lecture on St. Vincent of Paul. 

I confess to a great love for St. Vincent of Paul. I feel for 
him an unbounded admiration. He is the model of a good 
priest — a good Religious — a good missionary — a good 
Catholic Christian. He was the Good Samaritan of his age, 
and an especial model for every Christian, who wishes to live 
a life of true piety and wise, practical charity. I say wise, 
practical charity, for St. Vincent was not a man of many 
words, or vast schemes, but a man of practical action. Now 
I call especial attention to this point, for we Americans are 
called an eminently practical nation, and if any of our 
Yankee brethren should have the good fortune, first to become 
a Catholic and afterward to become a saint, he would be very 
much such a saint, I imagine, as St. Vincent of Paul. I 
propose to you, therefore, to-night, St. Vincent of Paul as 
the great patron saint and model of practical Christian char- 
ity. Let me explain. A great deal of energy is wasted in 
scheming and that is the reason why, with so many willing 
minds, there is so little real good done, &c. 

(Then proceed as in the old Lecture in the book until the 
place where the institution of the society by Ozanam and 
others is mentioned. Add some description of the Conference, 
here and their labors, — You see how simple and practical 
is all this. Here is no blowing of horns, &c., but practical 
work, &c. — 

Conclusion. 

We all, I trust, wish to serve God and our neighbor for 
God's sake. Let us do it as did Jesus Christ, the Good Sa- 
maritan, as did St. Vincent, as did these noble young men 
who founded this society, as do (I am proud to say it) the 
members of our own conference. (Urge young men to join it.) 
And, my brethren, I appeal to you all, let us all do good after 



226 Life Sketches of Fathee Walworth. 

these good models. God does not need schemers, but honest, 
faithful workers. " Whatever thy hand is able to do, do it 
with all thy might." Let us do the good that lies waiting for 
us at our doors, and leave it to Providence to make out our 
plans. One great duty lies at our doors this very moment, 
viz.: to provide for our own poor this winter. Ay! the cold 
weather is now coming on. Soon the bleak winds of December 
will pass over our city. In the cold tenements around us poor 
children will be huddling around the embers of a smouldering 
fire. They will hold up their frozen hands to their mothers 
and complain bitterly — Ah! yes, mothers and children both 
will hold their chill hands up to God and complain. Oh! let 
us give them no right to complain to God of us! — The 
brothers of St. Vincent will be going around to search them 
out and to help. Tlie widow, the sick and the orphan will 
bless them. Oh! see that you have a right to share in this 
blessing! — The bell of the house door rings often in the day. 
It is the poor. They come often to me, but my hands are 
empty. I would the bell would ring sometimes for another 
purpose, to say : " Here, Father Walworth, I have come to 
put this money in your hands for the poor this winter." Oh! 
your own little ones would sleep better in their cradles for it, 
your own fires would blaze more cheerily for it, for the 
prayers of the poor would bless the bread on the table, the 
fire on the hearth and the little ones in your cradle! A sweet 
voice would whisper in your conscience the words of blessing 
which Jesus Christ will pronounce in loud tones at the end 
of the world : " Come ye blessed of my Father." 

RIGHTS OF LABOR DEFINED. 

(From The Argus; Monday Morning, Dec. 6, 1886.) 

The masterly exposition of the labor question by Rev. 
Father Walworth which we present to our readers to-day 
sweeps away all the subtle sophistries and cunning misrepre- 
sentations which professional labor agitators have thrown 
around the subject. It is the clear reasoning, incisive logic, 
high-minded views, deep religious convictions of an eminent 
divine, a profound thinker and a holy man whose life has been 
spent in the service of religion, whose sole aim has been to 
do good and whose influence is widespread. * * * It will 



Pastor of His Flock. 227 

tend to open the eyes of the wage-earners to an understanding 
of the real principles involved in the Henry George crusade 
against property and individual rights. 

FATHER WALWORTH'S POWERFUL SERMON 
At St. Mary*s Yesterday. 

" For the Scripture saith : ' Thou shalt not muzzle the ox 
that treadeth out the corn;' and ' The laboring man is worthy 
of his hire.'" (1 Tim. v. 18.) 

Perhaps there is no subject that more attracts public at- 
tention at this time than the rights of labor. Perhaps there 
is no subject which is so little understood and about which 
such vague and unsatisfactory theories are afloat. If these 
theories involved errors in political economy only, I would be 
silent and not introduce the subject into the pulpit. But it 
is not so. At the present time, religious and moral doctrine 
is assailed; and the preacher who is afraid to defend the faith 
of the Church and the morals of the community is a coward 
and unworthy to serve as a guide and leader in religion. 
These few words are all that I need offer as an apology for 
the subject I have chosen. The Archbishop of New York, like 
a true champion of the faith, has already sounded the alarm, 
and why should I hesitate to follow so illustrious a leader? 

What are the rights of labor; that is to say what is meant 
by these words? It means the right of a man to acquire 
property by his labor, to use it freely, and to transmit it to 
his children. A man does not generally work because he 
loves to work. He works because he looks forward to the 
fruit of his labor; he expects, for instance, to get his wages, 
to use his wages, to spend his wages or to keep them as long 
as he likes until he gets ready to spend them; or, in fine, to 
spend a part of what he earns and lay up the rest for a 
rainy day. You see, in fact, my dear brethren, that there 
is no difference between the rights of labor, well understood, 
and the rights of property. What does the right of labor 
amount to, if it does not carry with it the right to own and 
the right to keep what one earns by his labor? 



228 Life Sketches of Fathee Walworth. 

Another thing is also clear, namely, that labor does not 
mean merely hand labor, muscular labor, bodily labor, but 
also the labor of the mind. When the bricklayer comes to 
work for me, I see in him something more than a mere 
machine with arms and legs and nerves and muscles; I see a 
man with intelligence, experience and skill. Without this he 
would be of little use to me. And, moreover, possessing these 
qualities of intelligence and experience and skill, he has the 
right to charge for them, and I must expect to pay for them. 
It follows, therefore, that all men who work either with hands 
or with brains are laboring men in every sense in which labor 
has its rights. 

THE LABORER BECOMES EMPLOYER. 

Once more, suppose the laboring man, by his honest indus- 
try, to have acquired more than he needs to spend immediately. 
He is now at liberty to engage some other man to help him, 
to work for him, and he has the right to use the property 
which he has acquired to pay this other man. In this way, 
our laboring man becomes now an employer. Is this right? 
Or must he say that he is bound to divide his extra money 
with his neighbor without expecting work for it? Of course 
not ; it is one of the rights of the laboring man to look forward 
to a happy time when he shall reap the rewards of his in- 
dustry, when his labor will be less hard, when he with his 
family, with his wife and his children, " shall sit under his 
own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make them 
afraid." What is the employer, then, if not the laboring man 
reaping at last the fruits of his industry, the reward of 
honest labor? It is true that sometimes a man or a woman 
has never labored hard to earn his bread. He lives on prop- 
erty which comes down to him by inheritance from his father. 
A widow lives comfortably upon means which she, herself, did 
not acquire. It came to her from her husband. Is not this 
right? Go home to your own house, look at your own wife; 
look into the faces of your little children.. And then let 
Henry George come in and tell you that you have no right to 
work in order to give them a home after you are dead, or 
other means to live. How will that sound in your ears? 
Will you tolerate that doctrine? 



Pastor of His Flock. 229 

And in fine, let it be well understood also that the rights of 
labor are not to be limited by any arithmetic. We cannot 
say that a man shall earn and lay up for himself and for his 
family so much and no more, one dollar and not two, one 
hundred and not two hundred, one hundred thousand and not 
two hundred thousand. To limit the honest ambition of in- 
dustry at any point is a blockade to the business, the trade, 
the commerce of a country, and when these are stopped where 
is the chance to labor? The Socialist, therefore, is the natural 
mortal enemy of the laboring man. If he calls himself the 
friend, it is only because he is a demagogue and a humbug. 

THE LABORER BECOMES LANDLORD. 

Henry George and his followers will say that he wishes to 
make no change, except in the possession of land property. 
According to him, land does not belong to individual owners, 
but to all the people in common. It should not, therefore, be 
left to the individual owner to use as his own, or to manage for 
his own single profit. It should be in the hands of the 
government and so farmed out and so managed that its profits 
shall go for the common benefit of the people. 

It is unnecessary for me to dissect the new terms invented 
to back up this old nonsense, such as " the social aggregate," 
" economic rent," etc. It is unnecessary because the founda- 
tion upon which it all rests is false. It is not true that all 
the land in a country is a " common estate." It is not true 
that the people are " tenants in common." It is the old heresy 
of socialism to say so. The great argument against all social- 
ism applies to every crook and dodge of Henry George's new 
gospel. If you look at Blackstone, Kent and all the great 
jurists and statesmen, who are the time-honored exponents 
of the common sense of the nations, you will find that passing 
lightly over the fine-spun theories which seek to determine 
the origin of property, all maintain the right of a true 
individual ownership, and this they base upon a practical 
necessity. To carry out the contrary w^ould be to discourage 
all industry and prostrate business. A man works in the 
hope of earning something. That something when earned 
becomes his property. He looks forward with hope not merely 
to bread and clothing, but to the possession of a home in the 
land, a house which shall be his own. To that home by and 



230 Life Sketches of Father Wae worth. 

by, lie would add a garden, to that more land with an orchard 
and so on. On these hopes rest all industry and business. 
It is the basis of all civilized society. Henry George, if I 
understand him, would have us lease our land from the State 
and pay rent for it to the State. This rent is to be dis- 
tributed by the officials of the State for the common benefit 
of the people. Look around and see our officials. See how 
they manage the money already in their hands. Put in their 
hands this additional treasure, this further opportunity to 
plunder the people who elect them — is it necessary to enlarge 
upon the consequences of a vast corruption fund like this? 

HOW MINDS GET MUDDLED. 

It may appear to some of you that I treat this subject 
differently from other orators and writers. So I do, and I can 
give you the reason for it. These orators and writers very 
often mix together two things which are very different. The 
rights of labor is one thing; the claims of the poor is another 
thing. They do, indeed, go together, often, but they must not 
be confounded together. The rights of labor belong to every 
man who labors whether rich or j)Oor; the claims of poverty 
belong only to the poor man, and rest upon a different founda- 
tion. The rights of labor are founded upon justice; we 
claim them because they are ours, and in putting them 
forward we only demand our own. The claims of poverty 
are founded upon pity, love, charity. In urging them, we 
demand what belongs to another, but what, for God's love, he 
ought not to refuse us. Now, when the demagogue wishes to 
delude you, for his own purposes, he begins by muddying the 
water, by selecting some claim of poverty and using it as 
if it were a right and a right of justice. He says, for instance, 
to the poor man : " Why should this gentleman, who works 
behind his desk, go home to a turkey with oyster sauce and 
capers, and you go home to corned beef and cabbage and not 
too much of that?" Is it because he is a banker and you 
carry the hod? No, of course, that is not the reason. The 
reason is because he is rich, can afford it and you cannot. 
You will have a right to a turkey when you can earn enough 
to pay for it. When he loses his money, he will have a 
right to corned beef and cabbage and no more. He has no 
right to your corned beef and you have no right to his turkey. 



Pastor of His Flock. 231 

So much for the question of rights. But at the same time, 
there is another question which our rich banker will have to 
answer at least to his God. He is bound not only by the ties 
of nature but also by his duty to God to love his neighbor 
and especially his poor neighbor. If he forgets to do that and 
to share what he has with the poor, God will damn him for 
it. He will not be damned for an invasion of the poor man's 
rights, but because he does not love his neighbor, and is in- 
sensible to his wants. I cannot dwell any further upon this 
particular point at this time. Next Sunday (please God) 
I purpose to preach upon the " Ohligations of Property.'' My 
subject to-day is the " Rights of Labor," and even when I 
confine myself to that alone, I shall not be able to say all 
I would. 

You are all well aware, I suppose, that Henry George and 
some others put themselves forward at this time as special 
friends and guides of the laboring man. They present their 
theories with some degree of variety, but all belong to a 
general class, called Socialists or Communists. A Socialist is 
defined by Webster to be " one who advocates a community of 
property among all the citizens of a State." Mr. George 
belongs to a sub-class of these, called Agrarians, because they 
are especially in favor of a division of the land in like manner. 
Mr. George might deny, perhaps, that he is a Socialist. He 
makes a distinction between land and other property. It is 
possible that he has other property which he does not propose 
to divide. 

You are also aware that the Archbishop of New York has 
declared these doctrines to be contrary to the teaching of the 
Church. The Church recognizes the right of property and 
ownership of land as derived from nature, and commands 
that it shall be held intact and inviolate by all; Henry George 
feels aggrieved by this opposition of the Church and ques- 
tions the right of the Church to interfere in matters of this 
kind. Perhaps some others, perhaps some even among you, 
may ask : " Is not this a question of political economy ? On 
what authority does the Church undertake to decide it? '' 
The answer, my brethren, is easy. It is a question of religious 
morals. The Church is the great guardian of the Ten Com- 
mandments. She is guardian of that great Commandment 



2*32 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. 

What is stealing but taking away the property of another 
without his consent? 

Where there is no property, there can be no stealing. If 
the Church may not say what property is, how in the name 
of common sense is she to say what stealing is? The point 
taken by Mr. Henry George is simply absurd. The Church 
has a right to condemn the doctrine of Henry George and to 
forbid her children to follow him. All the true children of 
the Church will obey her voice. Our Holy Father at Eome 
has done his duty. The Archbishop of New York has done 
his duty. The doctrine which the Archbishop has put forth 
is nothing new. It is the ancient, time-honored law of 
Christian morality. It is the standard to which wise lawyers 
and statesmen of every age have adhered. Let us not, at this 
late day, be led astray to our own destruction by a " Will- 
of-the-Wisp." 

The sin then which is directly opposed to the rights of 
labor is the sin of theft. The industrious laborer does not ask 
to live by stealing. He asks only that which is due to the 
labor he does. It is the lazy man who is not content to earn 
what he claims, but seeks to take away the fruits of another 
man's labor. 

And now let us inquire, practically, who are the real sin- 
ners against the rights of property, and consequently against 
the true rights of labor? I will not lose my time this morn- 
ing in declaiming against the common and vulgar felons that 
we see in our police courts and through the bars of a jail 
window. Let the sneak thief and the highway robber and the 
midnight burglar pass for the present. Let us hold up that 
great Commandment, " Thou shalt not steal," before the eyes 
of some others who hold their heads higher. Come hither, 
extortioner. What right have you to take advantage of your 
neighbor's necessity, who must work for the smaller wages, 
or else starve? What right have you to force upon him a 
half-dollar when you know his work is worth a dollar, or one 
dollar when you know it is worth two, or five dollars when 
you know it is worth ten, I hold over your head the law 
of God, and I say to you, " Thou shalt not steal." 



Pastor of His Flock. 233 

Come hither, too, thou crafty cheat. Your neighbor, per- 
haps, is not only poor but simple, and you take advantage of 
his simplicity to defraud him of what he has laid up by his 
honest labor. But you say it is all right; he agreed to it; 
it was a contract. But I hold up before you, the law of Grod, 
which says, " Thou shalt not steal." 

Come hither, dishonest debtor. You live, perhaps, in a fine 
house and ride in a carriage? But you can scarcely count 
your creditors who pass daily by your door, all hopeless to 
receive from you the fruits of their labor. Perhaps, they are 
too poor to sue you. They would get nothing if they were 
richer, for you have made over your property to your wife or 
your son or your brother or some one else, and you are ready 
to swear that you own nothing. You are a very respectable 
man, but in the eye of God you are a thief. In His name and 
in the Church's, I hold over your head the great law of the 
Decalogue which says, " Thou shalt not steal." 

Come hither, thou walking delegate. You prowl about on 
the heels of the laboring man. A weary-eyed wife is waiting 
at home, surrounded by anxious little children. They wait 
for the husband and father to come back from work with his 
wages in his hand. You whisper in his ear that he shall not 
work. He trembles, but dares not disobey. How many 
mouths have you robbed of food; how many backs have you 
stripped of clothing by that one tyrannical word? In the 
name of God and of American liberty, I hold up before your 
eyes the great Commandment and say, " Thou shalt not steal." 

Come hither, thou demagogue, thou prophet of the mob. 
You mislead the people with dishonest doctrines. You teach 
them to throw away the tools of honest labor that they may 
grasp the property of others. Driven by want and stimulated 
by covetousness, perhaps, they set fire to houses, perhaps, thej 
shed the innocent blood of those who defend the law. Think 
you, your own hands are clean of blood? Think you, there is 
no one who will ever call you to account? The spirit of God 
tells us, by the mouth of his prophet, Daniel, that " They who 
instruct many to justice, shall shine like the stars for all 
eternity." (xii. 3.) What then, in the other world, will be 
the fate of those who instruct many to injustice? Look at the 
great Commandment. Look now, while the time is gi^en you. 



2'34 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Though you may be unwilling to read it now, be sure you 
shall read it at anotner day in characters of fire, " Thou 
shalt not steal." 

Who are these, that I see coming banded together in a 
multitude, marching under banners and filling the air with 
shouts? Are they so many that God does not see each one? 
Is the mischief they do so divided that each one will be held 
accountable only for a very little? Does falsehood become 
truth in the mouths of the many? Listen to what the Holy 
Book tells us in the twenty- third chapter of Exodus : " Thou 
shalt not receive the voice of a lie. Thou shalt not follow 
the multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou yield in judgment 
to the opinion of the majority to stray from the truth." 

My dearest brethren, we have a better voice than Henry 
Greorge's to listen to. It is the Church who speaks to us and 
it is God who speaks to us through the Church. To whom 
shall we listen ? Shall we be guided by the principles of 
eternal wisdom? Shall we be guided by the Holy Book? 
Shall we be guided by the Holy Church? Shall we be guided 
by the Vicar of Christ? Shall we be guided by the warning 
voice of our Archbishop? Shall we follow the wisdom of so 
many ages of the past? Shall we maintain the rights of 
property and of labor? Or, shall we follow the teachings 
of these ambitious orators of the hour, and so seek to pull 
down in one mad freak of fanaticism the temple of Faith and 
the pillars of Freedom, only to perish ourselves in the ruins? 



Pastor of His Flock. 235 

{From the Albany Times, Sept. 5, 1889.) 
ST. MARY'S CHURCH SPEAKS FOR HERSELF. 

A PROTEST 
Against a proposed plan of the Albany Railway. 

To all whom it may concern: 

We, the pastor, clergy and committee of St. Mary's, having 
just learned that a scheme is on foot and just ripening into 
execution, to hem in our Church by railway tracks with all 
the noisy nuisances incident thereto, do hereby make this 
earnest appeal to our congregation. We call upon you to 
defend this ancient parish, established by your forefathers in 
the faith nearly a century ago. We call upon you, also, to 
protect the house of worship which you have so lately put 
up with many a prayer and many a sacrifice. We call upon 
you to rally around your clergy and the committee of your 
Church. We warn you that you will only secure yourselves 
against this invasion of your dearest rights by your own 
earnest and steadfast action, without relying on advocates, the 
wisdom of whose trade is to delude and betray. 

C. A. Walworth, Rector. J. A. Lanahan. 

J. J. Dillon. James Allen. 

P. H. McQuade. James Jones. 

John McDermott. J. J. Harrigan. 

{From the same newspaper.) 

" The Common Council meet to-night for the first time after 
the summer recess, and among the business that has been 
postponed and otherwise accumulated is action upon the peti- 
tion of the Albany Railway Company for permission to erect 
poles, etc., to run their cars by electricity. A proposition to 
take the route off from State street between Broadway and 
Eagle is under consideration and meets much opposition as 
will be seen by the appeal from St. Mary's Church, printed in 
another colunm. The subject is one of much importance, 
and should be carefully as well as promptly considered." 



236 Life Sketches or Father Walwoeth. 

{From the daily local papers.) 

INDORSED BY THE BISHOP. 

The following letter speaks for itself. 

Albany, September 10, 1889. 

Deab Father Walworth — I approve the steps which the 
clergy and the committee of St. Mary's have already taken in 
defense of their Church and worship. My whole heart is with 
you in this crisis, and I trust that every Catholic in the city 
will give to us his heartiest and most active sympathy. The 
interest of all private rights and the interests of all worship 
are concerned. We cannot, however, expect much protection 
from outside, unless we make it clear that we are prepared to 
defend ourselves. 

Very sincerely, 

FRANCIS, Bishop of Albany. 

Father Walworth promptly secured, by personal 
visitation, the signatures of neighboring property- 
owners to a remonstrance to the Mayor and Common 
Council, and attended the proceedings in the City 
Hall preliminary to the giving of the franchise. This 
prevented the laying of tracks on Pine and Chapel 
streets. The ones laid on Steuben street were shortly 
after removed. ^^ The blessing of God is not on them 
so near St. Mary's door," said the people. 

THE HOUR OF SACRIFICE. 

(A hitherto unpublished poem on the daily Mass.) 

By Rev. C. A. Walworth. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice 

That calls the loving soul to prayer; 
Angels and men meet in mid-air, 

And a low earth to Heaven, doth rise. 



Pastor of His Flock. 237 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 

Sweet is the bell that floods the tower, 

And makes the belfry, a sweet bower 
Where branches bend and blossoms rise. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 

List to the clock; its measured tick 

Says to the soul be quick, be quick, 
Eternity sends this surprise. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 

Hark, hark! 'Tis the sweet lark sings; 

Renew thy soul, take eagle's wings; 
Borrow of both, my soul, and rise. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 

Christ calls you from the altar stone; 

Ah, will you leave Him there alone, 
To plead for you? Be wise, be wise! 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 
What joy to enter at the door, 
Though while our brows bend to the floor 

Our joy contends with woeful sighs! 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice. 

'Tis sweet to meet with Jesus there, 

Where gathering angels fan the air 
And all of Heaven doth sympathize. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice, 
Where spirits cluster wondering, 
Where cherubs cling and seraphs sing. 

And holy tears, the heart baptize. 

Sweet is the hour of sacrifice 

And sweet the secret, strong desire 

That fills the soul with burning fire, 
And holy Heaven with earth allies. 



2138 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

Sucli gratitude as is shown in the following letter 
to Father Walworth from the late vicar-general of 
the Syracuse diocese, wells forth from a noble heart 
and like the quality of mercy, -^^ It hlesseth him that 
gives and him that takes." It came in answer to 
a message that the pastor of St. Mary's sent through 
his amanuensis from a sick bed. 

To Miss Ellen H. Walworth, Albany, N. T. 

ST. LUCY'S CHURCH, 
PASTOBAL RESIDENCE. 

432 Gifford St., 
Syracuse, December 15, 1892. 

DiEAR Miss Walworth — I hardly know how to fittingly ex- 
press the feelings of affectionate veneration created in my mind 
by the kind remembrance of me, on the feast of St. Lucy, by 
your uncle. 

Three of the happiest and most useful years of my life were 
spent with him. The ardent piety exemplified in his every act, 
the kind fatherly direction of my first years in the priest- 
hood and the rich fund of knowledge which he possessed and 
from which I was daily acquiring, have been like lamps of 
brightness to my after years. In the performance of duty 
and in trials and troubles, the memory of what he would 
do under like circumstances has been my guide. 

Please express to him the kindest feelings of affection of 
his friend and old assistant of over twenty years ago. 

May God restore him to his health and leave him with us 
for many years. 

Thanking you for your kindness, I remain, 

Yours sincerely, 

JOHN J. KENNEDY. 



XL 
TRAVELS AND INDIAN TRAILS. 
Vacation Studies. 

When Father Walwortli had built St. Mary's 
Church and the people of the parish were enjoying 
the use of it, — when, too, the affairs of his father's 
estate were settled and his duties as executor at an 
end, he applied to the Bishop of Albany for a leave 
of absence. He wished to visit Rome and spend a 
year in travel abroad for health and recreation. This 
was cordially granted, and suitable letters were 
obtained to insure a welcome among European Cath- 
olics. I, who devote these pages to Father Wal- 
worth's memory, was the niece chosen to be the fortu- 
nate companion of his journey, being then but four- 
teen years of age. Our intercourse thus far had been 
chiefly on the croquet ground, at the dinner table or 
on such occasions as a drive with a family party to 
the Saratoga battleground or, with my sister, from 
the gate of Kenwood Convent to some point of inter- 
est in or near Albany. 

A full account of that first journey with Father 
Walworth is given in a book that resulted from 
my home letters, and which is entitled '^An Old 
World as Seen Through Young Eyes; or. Travels 
Around the World." * After this, whenever the 
busy priest had a brief summer vacation or the doctor 
advised change of air for him in the treacherous 



* Published by D. & J. Sadlier, New York. 



240 Life Sketches of Father Waewoeth. 

days of March, what more natural than for us two to 
get together and start off with a valise and a stout 
umbrella apiece ? We were quite sure of a good time 
together, through rain and shine, whatever of ups 
and downs might be ahead of us. On such occasions 
the grey-haired pastor, when the tickets were bought 
and the train or boat began its motion, let these 
words of Byron, conned in college days, roll melo- 
diously from his tongue: 

Once more upon the ocean ! 

Yet once more! 
The angry waves bound 'neath me 

Like a steed that knows its rider. 

There is little doubt that, as a boy, he had battled 
fiercely with the temptation " to run away to sea." 
His step-uncle, Mr. Cardell, wrote a story for boys 
called " Jack Halyard, the Sailor Boy," which he 
read with great zest. Father Walworth's knowledge 
both of navigation and of human nature was always 
sufiicient to win him a respectful invitation from the 
captain of every ship on which we ever traveled to 
make ourselves at home in the pilot-house. Usually 
we were also permitted, when near shore, to follow 
our course daily by means of the captain's charts. 

Sometimes most interesting events were taking 
place that the passengers on the quarter deck, with 
their heads bent over novels and papers, never sus- 
pected. One spring we put out to sea six times be- 
tween the port of 'New York and that of St. Augus- 
tine in Florida. Rounding Cape Hatteras we kept 
in quiet water by passing between the shoals and the 
great lighthouse. It became very exciting as the 



Travels ats^d India]^ Trails. 241 

soundings were called off and we learned that our 
ship's keel " just didn't scrape the bottom." The 
captain who took us by that course was a Connecti- 
cut boy, who had slipped off through the apple or- 
chard one day and was not heard of at home for sev- 
eral years. But the account he gave us of his 
hardships during these years would deter the average 
boy from doing likewise. He had been a pilot dur- 
ing the Civil War and knew every inch of the many 
sea-paths among the shoals between 'New York and 
Charleston. He and Father Walworth discovered 
they were cousins, at least genealogical cousins. 

One day, between Capes Charles and May, this 
captain jerked the ship's gong like a crazy man, 
when, to the eyes of his passengers, all looked fair 
as a May morning, rattling off at the same time 
some very emphatic words. Ahead of us was a large 
ocean liner, headed in shore. In answer to our sig- 
nal this steamship hove to and then swung around 
to come toward us. " What is it, captain ? " whis- 
pered uncle in the pause that followed. ^' He's thirty 
miles out of his course. That's what it is ! The 
Lord only knows how he got in here at all. He has 
probably mistaken that light for one near Cape Hen- 
lopen. Three minutes more and he'd have been 
aground." In plain view to the west was a stretch 
of land with its solitary skyward-pointing finger. 
There was nothing in sight to the east of us but 
water. It was only after seeing the " hen and 
chicken shoals " on the chart and learning how they 
and others stretch along, not only for miles up and 
down the coast, but far out into what appears, on a 
calm day, to be the open sea, that I understood what 



242 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the captain meant by being '^ in here." To be sure, 
a ship of that size in shallow water behind those 
shoals was in a trap, where even a squall might wreck 
her. i 

As she came lalongside us the foreign captain asked 
what light that was abreast of us. '^ Fenwick's 
Island Light " answered our captain through his 
trumpet, and gave the other quickly his bearings. 
Meanwhile 300 passengers came swarming on the 
liner's deck, all alert with interest, if not fear. Both 
vessels were now at a standstill. Our captain had 
called out the course, how to get clear of the shoals 
and in toward Philadelphia. It was by falling into 
the path we were leaving, shown by the ruffled water 
in our wake, and was further indicated as he pointed 
out by a schooner, some distance behind us and nearer 
the shore, just turning to show a bend in the channel. 
Before his sentence was finished the foreigner sud- 
denly steamed up and made off in the direction in- 
dicated without so much as a " Thank you.'' 

" What's the matter with the fellow ? " said our 
Yankee captain, mad as a hornet, swinging his great 
trumpet round and round to work off his feeling of 
indignation, '^ I've saved his ship for him ; I've lost 
time to set him right ; I've given him all the leeway 
he needed, and that's the way he treats me! Man- 
ners ! A porpoise could teach him manners." 

'^ Perhaps," suggested Father Walworth, '^ he 
feared some trouble among the passengers if they 
overheard enough of what you were telling him to 
be able to understand his blunder." 

"iN'o! It's the salvage," rejoined the still irate 
captain. " I was thinking of the danger of those 



Travels and Indian Trails. 243 

people when I spoke. But he knows very Avell I 
could, if I chose, put in a claim to salvage. He 
didn't want to answer any questions for fear I'd 
know too much about him. That's plain enough.'' 

^'He's making up for lost time," said Father 
Walworth. 

^' That he is," answered the captain, '' and follow- 
ing the directions I gave him to a T." 

When we neared our port the l^ew York Herald 
was bought the very first thing and scanned eagerly 
for news of the great liner. Its arrival at Phila- 
delphia was registered, and heartily glad we all were 
to read it. '' That's all there'll ever be about it," 
said the captain, good-natured, and happy as a lark. 
We, also, had made good time through the shoals and 
distanced all rivals. 

After reaching Florida, when we went to Mass at 
Palatka, Father Walworth noticed that the negro 
Catholics were assigned to a row of seats between 
the side aisle and the wall. In his conversation 
afterward with the local pastor I was surprised, 
listening, to learn how very great was his interest 
in the spiritual welfare of this dusky part of the 
congregation. How well he seemed to understand 
their special tastes and wants. Total absence of race 
prejudice and great love of the worthy poor were 
evidenced here, as ever, in his mental attitude. He 
had long since, on the missions, done his full share 
of work as a preacher in the black belt, and had 
profited by the lessons then learned. 

When we were in Japan he was delighted to be 
served at Mass by little ^^ Jap " altar boys with top- 
knots. In China he took care to point out to me 



244 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

the fine manly development of certain Chinese bear- 
ers of burdens, and noted the intellect, refinement 
and baugbty pride in the faces of Chinese bankers. 
Truly, we were nothing but western barbarians from 
their point of view. The zeal and intellect of an- 
other St. Francis Xavier is still needed to conquer 
such paganism as theirs. 

But of all races, aside from his own, the Indian, 
the American Indian, held for Father Walworth 
the highest interest. A few words are due here 
about our hunt for old Walworth farms near 'New 
London, and then the reader will be invited to tread 
with us some of the Indian trails of !N^ew York state. 
From the Hudson to l^iagara Falls, and from their 
wampum beds by the sea to the woods and waters of 
Canada, we would have to track the Iroquois of the 
Five l^ations, and con at least a hundred years of 
their history, if we would know in detail how Father 
Walworth was wont to take a vacation. He was 
never idle. What he called fun another might take 
for research. 

Our ocean travel had ended with a dreamlike voy- 
age to Bermuda and back. But one summer I joined 
my uncle for a trip to Connecticut. He said he 
wanted to visit the house where his father was born 
in Bozrah, and also the very first Walworth home 
in Groton. 

" I don't know exactly where they are, but I think 
we can find out something more about them if we 
go there. Be sure and take our note-books, and also 
a sketch-book and pencils. You will see that I shall 
make friends with the oldest inhabitant. I count on 
you for the packing." 



Travels and Indian Trails. 245 

We started hj the Boston and Albany Railroad, 
and after enjoying the beauties of Berkshire and 
lunching at a cosy table that came as suddenly be- 
tween us and was as quickly provided with good 
things as the one seen by '' Two Eyes '' and " Three 
Eyes/' we chang'ed cars but once before arriving at 
the quaint old town of ^N^orwich in Connecticut. 
Just where the Willimantic and the Yantic unite 
their waters to form the Thames, so well known to 
collegiate oarsmen, the street<3 of this hoary settle- 
ment climb the steep bank with many a freakish 
turn. And up we went in an omnibus to the Waure- 
gan Hotel. We spent some time in the public lib- 
rary and there, on the county atlas, traced the chief 
roads through the township of Bozrah. Grandfather 
was born in Bozrah. Uncle called on an old lady 
who remembered him very well in his later days, but 
knew nothing of his birthplace. He was but four 
years old when his father, Benjamin, removed to 
Hoosic Ealls in l^ew York State. We had a country 
drive in Bozrah among the daisies and raspberries, 
past many an old orchard, and we questioned other 
old people, but without success. '^ It is somewhere 
within the circuit we have made," said uncle, after 
our drive. ^^ I think it is that little brown house 
on the hill, where nobody lives." A year later he 
proved conclusively that this surmise was correct, 
and brought back with him one of its small attic 
windows, with four panes of glass, as a souvenir. 
More than one of his nephews had shown skill in the 
erection of rustic summer-houses in their home gar- 
dens. He intended it for some such structure or a 
boathouse. The farm from which Benjamin started 



246 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

forth to seek his fortunes before the Revolution be- 
gan, was more difficult to locate. We made three 
raids into Groton before uncle was satisfied as to all 
the details. First, we had but the boyish recollec- 
tion of a friend, Paymaster Harris of the navy, to 
guide us. He remembered ^' a path across lots to 
Phila Walworth's.'' Fhila was an old lady, bent 
like a hoop, who had lost all her beauty. Then we 
found the " Middleton " house and thought we had 
it, for a Walworth certainly married a Middleton. 
But these Middletons had all moved away to ISTew 
York city. However, we corresponded with them 
and got some data for the Walworth Genealogy. 
I made sketches of everything in sight of that 
Middleton house that looked like ancient ruins. The 
most picturesque of these, with a crumbling wall, 
a well and some bewitching rose bushes, half wild 
and half tame, proved to be on the site of old Deacon 
Smith's house and garden. He, it seems, had bor- 
rowed some money of Benjamin's mother, the widow, 
who took care to state in her will that he had " prom- 
ised to pay it in silver and not in continental 
money." 

By this time, as the children were wont to say in 
their games, we were ^^ getting warmer and warmer." 
I left one of my best kid gloves in a Groton ceme- 
tery, where there had once been a meeting-house, 
presided over by a Mr. Wightman, because I was 
so busy copying off the names and dates from Wal- 
worth headstones that I never thought of it again, 
at least until we were miles away, near the Chester- 
Walworth farm. 

A new difficulty appeared. Walworths had lived 
on so many of the Groton farms that it was quite a 



Travels ai^d Indian Trails. 247 

puzzle to untangle the connections, and besides, the 
first Walworth, the original William from England, 
had worked three different farms himself. There 
were giants, it seemed, in those days. But of the 
home in which he died and where his '' three sons '^ 
— of course there were three — grew up to manhood, 
scarcely a vestige remained above the level of the 
meadow. The site of it was marked by a depression 
indicating its size; the spot was called the " chimney 
lot," because older people of the township remem- 
bered the ruins of a chimney there. It was not far 
from Deacon Smith's rose bushes, but no modern 
highway passes the site. It lies off in the fields 
near a copious spring, whose waters are traced on the 
county map till meeting others they flow through 
deep ravines to Fisher's Island Sound. That island, 
too, was visited, first in the little '^ Skipjack," a 
ferry from ^ew London, and afterward by way of 
a large steamer from the eastern end of Long Island. 
Even the old records of Southold, an ancient settle- 
ment at the extreme eastern limit of our State of 
'New York, had to be investigated, too, to see if, per- 
chance, they might throw light on the pioneers of 
the neighboring islands. But no. The records of 
Groton in Connecticut were a richer mine for our 
purpose. We spent a long time copying them in the 
old Avery house, where an Avery married a Wal- 
worth two centuries before, and where a fair Avery 
maiden pointed out to us the heavy beams hewed 
out in 1656, corresponding partly to what 
is now called the washboard of a room. 
These beams made broad, low seats upon which 
the Pequot Indians were accustomed to squat 



248 Life Sketches of Father Wal worth. 

when visiting the pioneers. A part of the second 
story of that Avery house projected over the first. 
A new railroad was huilt near it soon after our visit. 
A spark from an engine set it afire, and the pretty 
old locust tree that overshadowed it only served to 
add fuel to the flames. The family have since marked 
its site by a stone tablet. The sweet old garden 
that Ave saw is now a mere mass of weeds. The 
county clerk must henceforth be sought out elsewhere 
by those who wish to find the old safe full of rescued 
documents. 

But not for all the pleasures of Palm Beach, nor 
those of the northern racetracks and country clubs, 
would the genealogist and his niece have exchanged 
their summer hunt for the homes of ancestors, their 
interviews with the oldest inhabitants of ISTew Lon- 
don county and the consequent crop of budding 
friendships for new-found cousins. 

In Historic Warpaths. 

Father Walworth's interest in the Indians began 
even before he was old enough to read. He not only 
read and reread the novels of James Fennimore 
Cooper while his eyesight lasted, but when that 
was gone he had them read aloud to him, though 
he had to hold up an ear-trumpet to catch the sound. 

When he was but six years old he discovered 
that a strange pedestrian, who slept one night on 
the piazza of his Saratoga home, had disappeared, 
leaving behind him a packet with a good shirt and 
some other useful articles. Running to ask his 
mother what to do with them, she said to keep them 
awhile, and if not called for he could give them 



Travels and Indian Trails. 249 

to whoever he thought had most need for them. The 
child bore this in mind. One cool day a scantily 
clad red man came noiselessly toward him, with the 
usual forest tread, one step directly ahead of the 
last, making, from habit, as few foot-tracks as pos- 
sible. Calling to the Indian to wait, with a gesture 
as expressive as the word, he ran indoors and reap- 
peared with the bundle, which he thrust toward him 
with a happy smile. 

" Umpk ! '^ quoth the Indian, with a quiet, steady 
glance at the boy, and without more ado, took up 
the even tenor of his gait, bearing the gift with him. 

" What did the man say ? '' asked his mother. 

'^ He just said : ' Umph ! ' but I think he will use 
that shirt.'' 

" I hope so," said she, doubtfully. " It would do 
him no good to sell it for drink." 

The incident was forgotten. Six months later, in 
the springtime, the same silent red man appeared, 
seeking the boy. In his hand he held a beautiful 
bow, of well-seasoned wood, and a good supply of 
fine arrows, just the proper size for Clarence to 
handle with success. "No boy of his age in Saratoga 
had so choice an equipment. It was a proud day 
for him. He himself had believed in the gratitude 
of the Indian, and here was its proof in the loud 
and unmistakable language of a thoughtful deed. 
If ever any one said in his presence : " There is no 
good Indian but a dead Indian," he was stopped 
short off with a denial of the fact. He always in- 
sisted that Cooper's Indian heroes were not over- 
drawn, but truly represented their race. He ad- 
mitted that there might be '^ digger Indians " that 
were not like 'New York Indians, but so, too, there 



250 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

were white men that he would not care to have pre- 
sented as types of the race. In consequence of his 
predilection for the red men he was one of the priests 
chosen to be postulators of the cause of canonization 
of Kateri Tekakwitha, the '^ Lily of the Mohawks.'^ 
He also gave to the author of this work every op- 
portunity to prepare her biography, which was pub- 
lished in 1890, after five years of careful research.* 
Some account of journeys with Father Walworth 
during those five years, gathered from notebooks and 
diaries, will show why he changed his old refrain, 
" Once more upon the ocean," to a new one, 
with which he gleefully began many a brief summer 
jaunt. Hereafter it was, ^' Once more upon the 
warpath, yet once more ! " 

" It's a fine thing to have a hobby, ISTelly," he 
would say, " if you don't go too far with it and make 
yourself a bore. As for me, I have several." 

" Geology heads the list," said I, remembering 
the Saratoga county quarries and the fossils we 
brought from Schoharie' valley. 

" Yes, but just now it is Indians. Our good 
friend. Father Kennedy, of St, Lucy's, invites us to 
visit with him the Onondaga Reservation, and I 
want you to go with me to the Mohawk valley to 
find out all we can about Caughnawaga. I know 
a young priest there. Father O'Brien — he sings, by 
the way, like a lark. He has lately been made pastor 
of St. Cecilia's, a little church Father Lowery has 
built in the old Mohawk country. The Lily of the 
Mohawks lived there, or thereabouts, and I want, if 
possible, to locate the spot. Father O'Brien says 

*"The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha," may be obtained from 
the anthor at Albany, N. Y. 



Travels and Indiait Trails. 251 

they have found Indian graves lately on the Sand 
Flats at Fonda. He has a sister who has come on 
from Oswego to keep house for him. She plays well 
on the organ and has her own piano. It is lonely 
for her yet ; he says he will be very glad if I bring 
you with me. He will drive us all around the neigh- 
borhood. I kno\v a gentleman belonging to the 
Cayuga County Historical Society; he is locating 
old Indian villages. He is said to be the best au- 
thority in the State on that subject, and he has prom- 
ised me to ioin us there some fine da v. His name 
is General Clark.'' 

So the ball was set a-roUing, but when the game 
was ended it was no snowman, but an out and out 
heroine of the red race that appeared as a result, 
with data sufiicient for an actual biography, instead 
of the historical romance I had first projected. It 
was a learned Jesuit, to whom I was introduced at 
Kenwood Convent, wdio informed me of the wealth 
of manuscripts to be found at the College de St. 
Marie at Montreal. In the studv of these Mr. John 
Gilmary Shea also lent his aid. To meet and talk 
with these historians on their own favorite topics 
was a new and inspiring experience. 

The following extracts from my note-book will 
show in detail how we came and went, time and 
again, on the old warpaths of ^N'ew York State : 

Syracuse, June 25, 1883. 
Last Saturday we drove over to the Indian Reservation, up 
Onondaga Valley past an old building on a hill to the left 
where there was once a fort and, past a great quarry. We 
saw wagon loads of Indians, and here and there a log cabin, 
before we reached the village and council house. There we 



252 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

talked first with some young squaws and children, then with 
an Indian storekeeper and his wife, and afterward with 
Pierce, who invited us into his cottage, and told us he had 
only been there nine years. LeFort, it seems, a son of the 
old Abram LeFort, was a finely educated man, and former 
President. The squaw at the store (a Methodist) had told 
us to see Pierce because he could " talk white language " 
better than her husband. Pierce's father was a Seneca, his 
mother an Onondaga. He spoke both languages. They are 
quite different. The pike, strawberry and green corn dances 
are to thank Gk)d for these gifts. An old castle is further 
north, down the valley. Three hundred Onondagas still hold 
their own. Smallpox and diphtheria have made havoc in 
times past. A very old Onondaga is Aunt Dinah. Her step- 
daughter, — Aweykga-a, — is otherwise known as Ida Webster. 
We came home over Onondaga Hill, and took tea with my 
convent schoolmate, Ada Fyler ( Mrs. Ryan ) . She described 
a green corn dance she had seen on the Reservation years 
ago. The Indians wore all their finery with paint and 
feathers, and moved around a pole adorned with gay colors. 
They raised a great dust. Then the rain came and drove 
them into their long, low wooden council house. Ada told 
us too, of a great chief who was buried near St. Agnes' 
Cemetery on Onondaga Hill, in a knoll. Our talk about the 
storm that put an end to the corn dance brought out two 
very expressive Onondaga words, i. e.: Bairn wawa, which 
means "sound of thunder;" and Oc-hees-taiv, "the light- 
ning." The Indians speak of thunder itself as Ec-soot-a-haut. 
This word means, literally, " the grandfather of the power 
of the Great Spirit," We found in a book, Clark's " Onon- 
daga," pp. 124-5, a detailed account of certain famous wampum 
belts held by the Onondagas and their explanation, these 
being the Constitution as well as the chief historic documents, 
so to speak, of the " League of the Five Nations of Iroquois." 
When Mr. Clark saw the belts they were in a curious 
ancient bag, made of the finest shreds of elm bark, like 
softest flax; the capacity of the bag exceeded a bushel, and 
it was said to be as old as the league itself. The tubes or 
beads of wampum are red, dark blue, pale blue, black and 
white. They are of conch shell, five-eighths of an inch long, as 



Travels and Indian Trails. 253 

large as a small pipe stem, and hollow; strung and woven with 
sinews of deer and bark. This famous bag of wampum was, 
he says, looked upon as a sacred treasure and preserved 
with great care by the elected " Keeper of the Wampum." 

After visiting the "Jesuit Spring" at Salina 
where Chamonot preached in 1656 in St. Mary's, 
a bark chapel, I copied Judge Geddes' survey of 
1797, showing the position of parapets, gates and 
palisades of the old works there on the bank of 
Onondaga Lake. Then we were ready to familiar- 
ize ourselves with the story of the Oneida Stone, 
which was removed from its anciejit site in the 
Oneida country to the cemetery at Utica. After 
that we sought once more the Mohawk country. 
Here the notes were continued thus : 

At the Snell House, Fonda, 

July 20, 1883. 
Drove this morning with Uncle, Father O'Brien and Mr. 
Yeardon, schoolmaster at Fonda, across the Kayadutta creek 
and along under the brow of the hill up the Mohawk Valley 
a short distance to a road turning up the hill toward 
Abram Reese's house. Before reaching it we turned into some 
fields to the right near a wood belonging to Dominie Froth- 
ingham. A very short drive on the elevated plateau then 
brought us to the steep bank of the Kayudutta creek, where 
the sand has been dug out for building purposes. In this 
excavation were found very recently several whole skeletons 
and a variety of beads, also a rusty pair of scissors. Some 
of the bones were lying near a lower jaw bone with teeth, etc., 
which Uncle brought away and gave to Mr. Yeardon, who has 
the first skull they found. Less than half way down the 
bank to the creek is a charming spring issuing from the 
roots of an old crooked tree, from which we drank.* There 



* This was Tekakwitha's Spring. I made a sketch of it as it 
then appeared for her biography. The spring was used later for 
business purposes and its beauty marred. 



254 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

is a large one near by, partially filled in, and a third around 
the wooded point up stream. On the high ground extending 
from the latter point to the sand bank, according to Mr. 
Veeder, whom we met as we drove down toward his farm- 
house, were the (earthen) remains resembling streets of a 
village seen by his father. In the wood near there the marks 
of an axe were seen in the inside of a tree which, said Mr. 
Veeder, must have been made according to Mr. Clark's calcu- 
lation about the time JogTies visited the Mohawk towns. Mr. 
Clark was at Fort Plain and located the towns near Fort 
Hunter about a year ago. When questioned further he told 
us Mr. Clark had not been to the Veeder Farm for ten 
years. Mr. Veeder found arrow heads in the field across 
the road from his house. We called on his sister, then 
stopped at the yellow house of the older Mr. Veeder. We 
saw the old beads and scissors that had been dug up — 
(Uncle got three of those beads, to be fastened to his gutta- 
percha watch chain as a souvenir ) . The site of the block 
house was shown to us where the first liberty pole was 
planted. Then we drove down by the old Douw place and 
that of Major Jellis Fonda, and read on a tombstone the date 
1772. The site of the old bridge and store was pointed out 
to us and " coffin rock " in the Mohawk river. This last indi- 
cates where to look for rapids. The name Caughnawaga that 
clings to the eastern end of Fonda, and was the name of the 
first railroad station at that point on the New York Central 
Railroad, means "At the Rapids." The Mohawks used it 
there and carried it with them to their home by the great 
rapid of the St. Lawrence river near Montreal. 

After crossing the modern bridge we drove up the Mohawk 
on the south side and then back, to dinner. 

It was when shooting the great rapid of the St. 
Lawrence river on our way from Caughnawaga in 
Canada to Montreal that we met and conversed with 
Mr. Hale of Philadelphia, author of the Iroquois 
" Book of Rites.'' Extracts from this work, indicat- 
ing that Hiawatha's Great Peace, i. e,, the League of 



Travels and Indian Trails. 255 

the Five Nations, was established about 1450, a. d., 
fill up another page of the note-book of our Indian 
travels. These data are wedged in between copious 
extracts from Dutch records of Albany and French 
manuscripts at Montreal, together with addresses of 
Frenchmen and Indians whom we visited, to obtain 
information; also, records of interviews like the fol- 
lowing : ! 

Hotel Dieu, Montreal. 
Soeur la Daunersiere has been fifty-three years in this house. 
She knew M. Marcoux. She has a relic of Tekakwitha, the Lily 
of the Mohawks, and a quaint little colored picture of her 
from which I made a tracing. She remembered that a larger 
relic, a vertebra, in a beautiful relic case which she worked 
in 1843, was placed in the small niche covered with glass 
that indents the tall cross of Tekakwitha at the Sault 
St. Louis. 

The cross has since been renewed, being only of 
wood ; and, at its base, a substantial stone sarco- 
phagTis has been placed, marking Tekakwitha's 
burial place. When the Indians moved their vil- 
lage westward nearer to La-Chine they also bore 
her bones with them, thus testifying their affec- 
tion; yielding, however, one vertebra, to remain 
near the original grave. Later, they permitted their 
cure to present Father Walworth with a part of a 
hone from the arm, to take back with him to the old 
Mohawk country where she is also beloved. This 
is deposited at Kenw^ood Convent, on a fine carved 
oaken bracket. It w^as designed by Mr. Charles 
Lang, the same artist who- visited Caughnawaga in 
his company, on one occasion, to secure artistic 
memoranda for a portrait of Tekakwitha. 



256 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 
Again, from the note-book: 

June, 1885. 

During the fall of 1884, I recopied Chauchetiere's manu- 
script, — keeping one copy myself and sending one to Uncle, 
who forwarded it to Mr. John Gilmary Shea. This was re- 
ceived by the latter during my absence in Europe, February 
to June, 1885. Within a week after my return I started to 
the Mohawk Valley with Uncle to meet General Clark, who 
kindly waited to take the trip with me. 

Ten acres at Auriesville now belong to the Jesuits, includ- 
ing the spot where Rene Goupil was killed. 

Tuesday, June 16. 

After a noon dinner General Clark, Uncle and I drove from 
Fonda by the south bank of the Mohawk to Auries creek. 
We ascended a very steep hill and saw corn pits, also Indian 
graves near modern ones, and by mounting the fence had a 
glimpse of the river valley and a grain field in the fore- 
ground, covering a village site — (1659). We descended the 
ridge by an Indian trail, passed through Auriesville and 
across the ravines to Ossernenon's site. 

We entered by the north approach where Isaac Jogues' 
head, posted on the palisade, was exhibited to the crowd in 
as bloody a manner as was that of Sir Thomas More on 
London Bridge. All that appeared to our eyes was an open 
field, the blue sky and a broad outlook over the Mohawk 
Valley. 

General Clark told us he had measured the distance to the 
Schoharie creek, and this was the only spot in the Mohawk 
Valley corresponding exactly with Father Jogues' own de- 
scription of the scene of his captivity and R§n6 Groupil's 
death. The Jesuits did well to buy it, and we hope soon to 
see it marked in some way to easily distinguish it. 

This has since been done by the erection of the 
shrine, the chapel and the Calvary. 

On June 17, 1885, as the note-book shows, we 
were at Oanajoharie, or " The Pot that Washes It- 
self.'' We saw the cataract by taking a pathless walk 



Teavels a^b Indian Trails. 257 

over pine needles, ^' where moccasins would have been 
better than shoes." Mohawk Castle sites too niimer- 
oiis to mention here, considering the length and sound 
of their names, w^ere duly visited by our little party. 
But enough has already been here quoted from our 
diaries and note-^books to give some idea of how 
Father Walworth spent his vacations. He was al- 
ways consciously or unconsciously gathering and im- 
parting information. 

This being so, his interest in the project of a 
Catholic Summer School at his own beautiful birth- 
place, Plattsburgh on Lake Champlain, goes without 
saying. Together, and with our cousins of that place, 
v^e heard Father Searle lecture there, before the asso- 
ciation had a roof of its own. And together, after a 
ramble in the dim dawn from Hotel Champlain, on 
the Bluffs, through woodland paths, we two knelt on 
the top floor of its first administration building near 
a very new rocking chair and bureau, there to hear 
the first Mass that was ever said on the Summer 
School grounds. We saw in passing through the 
halls to the stairway of that building a crude but 
tidy restaurant, and a baby carriage or two on the 
main floor. We mounted promptly to the impro- 
vised chapel. Once there the bowed heads in the 
hall and room, together with the deep recollection 
of the celebrant, were to us ready indications that 
the Star of Faith shone brightly there with far- 
reaching rays. It gave a new charm to beautiful 
nature at a favored spot. It seemed indeed a hal- 
lowed Bethlehem of beginnings. There by the broad 
lake, among the quiet hills with hopeful thoughts 



258 Life Sketches of Fatheb Walworth. 

and congenial friends, we may well close this record 
of our travels. 

But there, too, as well as in the Mohawk Valley 
Tekakwitha's canoe had passed, and echoes of old 
Indian history lingered. The pros and cons of her 
canonization, and that of certain ^^ black gowns " 
who taught the Huron-Iroquois, were discussed in 
shady nooks. And, therefore, as appropriate let- 
ters have been appended to other chapters one has 
been found that seems to belong to this, as it is about 
the Iroquois Virgin. It will be well to bear in 
mind whilst reading it, that her canonization, to- 
gether with that of Father Isaac Jogues, S. J., 
and his companion, Rene Goupil, was desired by 
the bishops of the United States when assembled 
in their '^ Third Plenary Council '' at Baltimore. 
In token of this they drafted and sent to Rome 
from that city a formal request that the prelimi- 
nary steps be taken. To this request of the 
bishops was annexed a quaint and interesting peti- 
tion in several Indian languages, signed by Catholic 
Indians residing on various " reservations." When 
he accompanied his bishop to Baltimore, as theo- 
logian, at the time of the council. Father Wal- 
worth had it much at heart that Tekakwitha's 
name should receive its due share of atten- 
tion. He was active in bringing it forward. Be- 
cause, as he expressed it, the two martyrs of the 
Mohawk mission, Isaac »Iogues and Rene Goupil, 
would surely not be overlooked, for they belonged, 
as priest and donne to the great Society of Jesus, so 
influential to urge their cause not only at Baltimore 
but at Rome. Besides, Tekakwitha, if canonized. 



Travels and Indian Trails. 259 

would be our first native ^orth American saint. 
Hence, the following: 

From Rev. T. Harel, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Mon- 
treal, to Rev. C. A. Walworth. 

EvECHE, MoNTEEAL, 29th Octohcr, 1884. 
Rev. Sir — His lordship, the R. C. Bishop of Montreal, has 
given me communication of your letter of the 16th instant, 
concerning the practical steps to be taken in the cause of 
the Beatification of Catherine Tegakwita. I was so busy all 
these last days that I could not spare a moment to give such 
an answer. 

1. There is no necessity of a Postulatum at the present 
time, as the Process or Processes to be made belong to the 
Bishop or Bishops of Albany or Montreal, inasmuch as the 
Process is made in Montreal only, or in both Dioceses, — 
But though it is not necessary, that Postulatum or Postulary 
Letter, (Littora Postulatoria ) signed, if it could be, by all 
the Bishops at Baltimore would help in the future, after the 
Processus coram ordinarii seu informationis is sent to the 
Holy See, accompanied with as many Postulatorial Letters 
as possible signed by Bishops, Priests, members of Com- 
munities and laymen. If you think proper to have that 
Postulatorial signed by the Bishops at Baltimore, it has to 
be written in Latin, addressed to the Holy Father, and expose 
that the serv't of God has died in the diocese of Montreal 
cum magna fama sanctitatis, and express the wish that the 
Holy Father proceed to her cause of Beatification, on account 
of the virtue which she practiced, etc., etc. 

2. The first thing to be done is the election of a Postulator 
of the cause with the agreement of the two Bishops, Montreal 
and Albany. The Postulator would collect all the documents 
and traditions concerning the serv't of God, give the " arti- 
cles " of interrogation, select the witnesses whom he judged 
proper, and introduce the cause to the Tribunal of the 
Bishops, Ordinarii locorum. 

3. The cause being introduced, the Bishop would form his 
Tribunal and then the cause would proceed regularly. 

There is a question to be decided in the case — either the 



260 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

Processus coram Ordinario has to take place in Montreal 
only, or in Montreal and in Albany. My opinion is tliat the 
servant of God having died in the Diocese of Montreal, her 
cause must take place there, but that witnesses could be had 
from Albany, and if the witnesses of Albany could not come 
to Montreal, the Bishop of Albany would examine them on 
the same articles and same " Interrogatoria," servatis ser- 
vandis, etc. 

It would require a volume to give all the information in 
the matter. I am always ready to help you, if you find it 
proper, as much as possible. 

Yours truly, 

T. HAREL, Pst. 

Chancellor. 

Rev. Father Walwobth, St. Mary's Church, Albany, N. T. 



XII. 

WIELDING THE TEMPERANCE SLEDGE- 
HAMMER. 

Clippings from Local and Other Newspapers. 

Few liave thouglit more deeply about Temperance 
or worked more earnestly in its cause than Father 
Walworth. Few have dealt heavier blows than he 
to the liquor traffic from his own pulpit at St. Mary's, 
or cornered it more successfully in Committee rooms 
of the 'New York Legislature. Thoughtful men in 
his city and State still speak of him as a great moral 
power for order and sobriety; and this, not alone in 
his immediate vicinity, but wherever his spoken or 
printed word has ,rreached, whether the utterance 
came from him simply as a man or, as a citizen or, 
as a priest. 

Yet Father Walworth himself was never a total 
abstainer. He founded a Total Abstinence Guild in 
his parish. He wrote songs for it. He gave the 
Total Abstinence pledge to many. For some men 
he considered it a necessity to abstain from intoxi- 
cants. Others, he thought, gave a most commendable 
example by so doing. But when enthusiasts tried to 
force the pledge on all, or made unpractical pleas for 
prohibition of all trade in liquors by State legis- 
lation, he quietly reminded them that temperance, 
not prohibition or total abstinence, is one of the four 
cardinal virtues, ranking with justice, fortitude and 



262 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

prudence. To be able to use at will, without abuse, 
both meat and drink, and all the faculties and gifts 
granted by God to man, is indeed a great funda- 
mental virtue. 

But men who possess that virtue, who can 
use intoxicants without abuse and care not to take 
the pledge, should, he thought, make their influence 
felt toward sobriety. He rallied them to his aid by 
strong persuasive words when some great temperance 
measure was pending. He brought the subject before 
them with unremitting energy. He sought out the 
roots and causes of anti-temperance movements, and 
brought forward the best aims and credentials of 
those active on the other side. Then, to the substan- 
tial men of the community, he would say : '' On 
which side will you throw your influence ? Do not 
those of us who are striving to check the liquor trade 
stand for law, order and decency? For God, duty 
and religion? For the good of home and State and 
country ? '^ And so by one plea or another, he won 
them to sign a protest, or appear at a mass-meeting 
or a legislative hearing. So well known did he be- 
come in this cause, that the active officers sometimes 
of a Catholic, sometimes of a Protestant Temperance 
Society, would telegraph him from l^ew York city 
that an important measure on a certain day would be 
argued before a committee at the Capitol. They 
would urge him to be there and to speak. Whenever 
it was possible, he appeared, surprising the newer 
members of the Legislature by his knowledge not 
only of the question in hand, but of the Excise Laws 
in general and in particular. He usually won their 



Wielding Tempeeance Sledge-Hammer. 263 

respect by his wise and courteous reasoning, when he 
did not awe them by some eloquent and unexpected 
appeal to their individual consciences as men in re- 
sponsible positions, accountable to God for their legis- 
lative action. If the time was not propitious for 
aggressive measures, at least he was ever on the alert 
and gave frequent warnings to the public of what the 
liquor sellers were about. Thus he took up the 
useful but thankless duty of watch-dog for temper- 
ance sake over the excise legislation of ISew York 
State, and was true to it for long years till he died. 
It will be enough for present purposes to give some 
extracts from his scrap-books of newspaper clippings. 
They will show him not only in this capacity of 
sounding the alarm but again as occasions came on, 
with true American freedom of speech dealing blow 
after blow of heavy argumentative reasoning ; or, be- 
times, busy enough with the thrust and parry of rep- 
artee in fencing bouts of ridicule; and most of this 
occurring during the brief legislative months at Al- 
bany. First of all, however, by way of introduction 
to the clippings that deal with the general question 
of temperence reform, it will be well for us to read 
over his Tract '' I^o. 10," intended to better the in- 
dividual sinner. It was first printed by the Catholic 
Publication Society in ISTew York, and sold at fifty 
cents a hundred for wide distribution by lecturers 
and temperance societies. It will put in a proper 
frame of mind to read further those of us whose 
thoughts have been for some time diverted from this 
subject of Temperance. 



2Q4: Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

No. 10 

What is to be Done in Such a Case ? 

PART FIRST. 

John Egan's Picture, by Himself. 

You don't understand how I can behave so! I suppose 
you don't. I don't understand it myself. Look here, my 
friends, it is all very well to cry " shame ! " and turn up 
your noses ; but here is the question, " What is to be done in 
such a case ? " Tell me that. 

That's my house, sir. One story and two rooms. A front 
door that shuts with a latch, and a back door on one hinge, 
that stays where it is put without a latch. That's my wife, 
sir. A good-looking woman, sir, and a handy one to work 
when she's well. You don't like that black ring about her 
eye! It was a present from her husband, sir, last Saturday 
night. She sold her wedding-ring long ago, to buy bread. 
She gets this kind of japanned jewelry from me, now and 
then, to remind her that she is my wife. 

There are my children, sir. What do you think of them? 
Dirty! Of course they are. Why shouldn't they be? It's 
their native land, sir, and they don't like to part with it. I 
see you don't like the pattern of their clothes. What would 
you have? The biggest boy has no pantaloons to be sure; 
but he has a coat on big enough for three. His brother, Tim 
there, took the pantaloons. What's Tim crying for? It's a 
way he has. He's crying for something to eat, I suppose. I 
should cry for the same reason, except that I'm put to it 
worse for the want of something to drink. 

You don't like to hear me laugh, eh? You think I talk 
too lightly, do you, considering the ruin that lies around 
me? Well, perhaps, I do. By, my God sir, what would you 
have? If I were to follow my feelings, sir, I shouldn't trouble 
any one with my laughing. If I were to listen to the devil 
that whispers so often in my ear, I should soon be lying 
cold and quiet at the bottom of the river. Why, man alive! 



Wielding Temperance Sledge-Hammee. 265 

you don't know how often I've stood looking from the dock 
by the river-side upon the quiet water that seemed to call 
me to come and lie down in its bosom, and be at rest. If 
it weren't for the little I remember of my catechism, and the 
fear of Hell that still clings to me, I shouldn't be sitting here 
a terror to myself, and a show to my neighbors, and a shame 
to my family, God help them! And God help me! 

I don't need preaching, sir. Nobody need tell me how bad 
I am. I know it all better than any one can tell me. I 
ought to be ashamed of myself! Of course I ought. And 
do you think I am not? My friend, let me whisper it in 
your ear, that's tchat is killing me! I am so low down in my 
own estimation, that I am ready to die with the disgrace. 
It's only when I have a little whisky in me that I feel like a 
man again. 

Now, my highly moral and religious friend, you have a 
picture of me drawn by myself. If you can make a better, do 
it. If not, don't stand there, pouring misery into a bucket 
that's already full, but tell me something I don't know 
already. Tell me what is to be done in such a case? 

PART SECOND. 

John Egan's Remedy, 'by a Friend. 

I think I understand your case, John. And I think I 
know what ought to be done. 

I. In the first place, don't be discouraged. The devil will 
whisper a great many foolish lies in your ear. He will tell 
you that there is no hope for you; that it is useless to try to 
help yourself; that your character is all gone, and nobody 
will ever respect you or trust you again. These are all lies. 
Many a man before you that has been as far gone in intemper- 
ance as yourself has broken loose from his bad habits, and 
taken his rightful place in society again; perhaps got to the 
top of the heap. You can do the same thing. Bright days are 
before you, if you will only make the right effort. 

II. In the second place, begin with a strong resolution, 
and make it before God. Don't take any oaths, or make any 
vows. Oaths and vows are very extraordinary things, and 
ought not to be made lightly, or without great caution. But 



2Q6 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

do this. Go into some room alone by yourself, or into the 
church, and there upon your knees promise God to set about 
reforming yourself with all your power, and ask His grace 
to guide and help you. There also, on your knees, make a 
firm promise not to touch or taste the least drop of intoxi- 
cating drink, of any kind, until you have spoken to the 
priest, and arranged matters with him. Don't go to the 
priest while there is the least sign of liquor upon you. Wait 
until your head is as clear and cool as a glass of fresh spring 
water. And in the meanwhile wash your face, comb your 
hair, clean your shoes, and make yourself look and feel as 
much as possible like a respectable man. There is a great 
deal in brushing up the outside, although of course that's not 
the principal thing. 

III. Then go to the priest's house, ring the bell and ask for 
him. Don't make any long speeches, but tell him the state 
of the case at once. Let him know that, if he approves of 
it, you are ready to take the total abstinence pledge for one 
year, five years, ten years, or for so long a period as he 
may advise, and that once taken, nothing on earth shall ever 
make you break it. This done, ask when it will be convenient 
for him to hear your confession, and prepare you for Holy 
Communion. 

IV. It is important now to get your soul into a state of 
grace. Begin at once to prepare for a good confession. This 
means, of course, not only to tell the sins you have com- 
mitted, but to come before God and His priest with a true 
hearty sorrow for your sins, and a firm determination to 
avoid all kinds of sin, and to commence at once a holy life. 
Coming in this way, the priest's absolution pronounced over 
your head will be a real pardon from God. After this you 
need not be afraid to receive the Holy Communion. This holy 
food will give you strength from Heaven to resist temptation, 
and keep your soul in grace. I would advise you to come 
once every month to confession and communion, until you 
become thoroughly confirmed in your new life and good habits. 

V. In order now to insure your perseverance, you need 
above all, these three things — prayer, industry, and great 
watchfulness against temptation and the occasions of sin. * 



Wielding Temperance Sledge-Hammer. 267 

Pray. — Pray at least every morning and evening. I do 
not say, make long prayers, but pray! And after saying 
your usual prayers, add this : " My God ! I offer my pledge 
to Thee! I firmly resolve once more to keep it to the end. 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen." 

Be Industrious. Idleness is th^e parent of many vices, and 
especially it is the father of drunkenness. Besides, remember 
that you owe it to your family and your friends to make up 
for the lost time. 

Avoid the grog-shop and other occasions of sin. Be care- 
ful of your companions. If your company won't suit them 
unless you drink with them — why then, the sooner you sepa- 
rate the better. Don't make any false excuses for not drink- 
ing. Tell them plainly and openly that you have taken the 
pledge, and would rather die than break it. 

Keep away from the places where liquor is sold. There's 
danger there. People get together in these places to chat 
and talk, and that makes attraction for a man in the evening 
when his work is over. I know it does, but that is an at- 
traction which you must resist. How much better to spend 
your evenings at home! How happy you would make your 
wife by doing this, and what a benefit it would be to your 
children! Ah! there is no place like home for true happiness, 
when love lights the fire and spreads the board. The first 
society that God made was the Family, and He gave it His 
blessing. 

There, John, I have answered your question. I have given 
you my very best advice. What will you do with it? 



268 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 



CONVERSION OF JOHN TOBY. 

How a Woman's Kindness Saved Him. Rev. C. A. WaIworth*s 

Temperance Story. 

{From the Daily Phess and Knickerbocker, Albany, March 5, 187 .) 

" The History of Jolin Toby's Conversion, with His Views 
on Temperance, the Liquor Trade and the Excise Law," a 
lecture delivered by Rev. C. A. Walworth last Sunday eve- 
ning, has been issued in pamphlet form by the Albany News 
Company, and is in general demand. The story is founded 
upon fact, is graphically told, is full of humor and capital 
hits on the topic it deals with, and will be a serviceable 
temperance tale. 

The hero, John Toby, introduced as a " smart, active, 
good-looking, talented, young Irishman," starts off in life under 
favorable auspices; but by frequenting the Hon. Michael 
Magreedy's grocery too much, brings the blight of intemper- 
ance upon his family peace, impoverishes himself and destroys 
his good looks. 

Hon. Michael Magreedy, "blessed Michael, the dark angel," 
as John Toby dubs him, kept a respectable place, where no 
drunken man without money was allowed to be noisy. At 
Magreedy's, John Toby meets, among others, O'Gammon, de- 
scribed as " a second-rate lawyer, a prominent politician and 
a member of assembly. He was what is called a rising young 
man; a man of good reputation; a patriot so far as his coun- 
try could be of use to him; a conscientious politician so far 
as his party would permit him to be; and a consistent Chris- 
tion so far as religion chimed in with his prospects and did 
not interfere with the satisfactory buttering of his bread. 
In addition to all these virtues he had taken the pledge of 
total abstinence and was a member of a temperance society." 

As a religious man, he Avas a Christian and followed his 
conscience; as a citizen he was a party man and always voted 
in the interests of his friends. 

With this political Christian and Christian politician, John 
Toby has occasional arguments, which show among other 



WiELDiiN^G Temperance Seedge-Hammee. 269 

things that Mr. O'G. makes a serious mistake in defending 
his course in the Legislature as a representative of the liquor 
interest, and in attempting to justify it by alleging that his 
allegiance to his constituency excuses him for voting contrary 
to the dictates of sound morality. 

Now, in John Toby's village a " temperance society had 
been started by a priest deeply interested in the cause." 

The story refers to the different notions priests have in 
these matters. " Some give pledges in one way and some in 
another. Some favor societies while others prefer to manage 
everything of the kind in the pulpit and in the confessional/' 
But whatever the peculiar treatment may be, whenever a 
wise and zealous priest takes hold of the question, he makes 
it move. 

Mrs. Averill, an excellent lady, induces John to take the 
pledge, awakens his self-respect and restores him by kindness 
and encouragement — not alone verbal, but pecuniary.* The 
manner in which it is done gives a pleasant termination to 
the story. The idea of a story upon the platform is a taking 
one, and when the tale, however simple the plot, is nicely told, 
it is a most effective way of grafting an idea upon the public 
mind. 



* As the story runs, Mrs. Averill has a sudden desire for a 
well, and persuades her husband to hire John Toby to dig it. 
This incident is founded on a fact in the lif^ of Father Wal- 
worth's mother. She had a well dug, aiding thereby the re- 
form of a Saratoga tippler. 



270 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 



HONORS TO ASSEMBLYMAN KEEGAN. 

He is Made an Honorary Member of St. Mary's Guild, and 
Presented with Regalia. 

{From the Albany Evening Times, April 12, 1878.) 

An informal entertainment was given last evening to the 
Hon. Jolin Keegan of the Assembly, at 41 Chapel street, 
where he had been invited to meet the executive committee 
of St. Mary's Temperance Guild. In the course of the eve- 
ning Father Walworth read the following complimentary ad- 
dress, in the form of a letter: 

8t, Mary's Church, 

Albany, April 8, 1878. 
To the Hon. John Keegan: 

Dear Sir — Yesterday evening at a regular meeting of St. 
Mary's Temperance Guild, the following resolutions were 
unanimously and enthusiastically adopted: 

Resolved, That the members of this society can never forget 
the vote cast on the 7th of March, 1878, against the " Daly 
excise bill," by the Hon. John Keegan, member of the Assembly 
for Queens county; and especially the noble words which ac- 
companied that vote, when he said: 

" I have no doubt that the people who sent me here are in 
favor of more liberal liquor laws; but respect for the oath 
which I took on the first Tuesday of January demands that I 
shall now cast a vote which will undoubtedly consign me to 
political oblivion. I believe this to be a question between God 
and the devil, between Hell and Heaven, and I vote — No." 

Resolved, That a man who can thus deliberately renounce 
his hopes of political preferment in obedience to his conscience, 
and who so truly loves the best happiness of his constituents, 
is, according to our conviction, a hero. We hold him to be 
an honor to his native land, as well as to this country which 
reared him, and the true model of a Christian statesman and 
patriot; and if the consequence of such grandeur of soul is to 
exclude him from our State and national councils, we bewail 
the low standard of public morals. 



WiELDiisrG Temperance Sledge-Hammer. 271 

Resolved, That as a token of our admiration and esteem, 
the said John Keegan be declared and hereby is constituted, 
an honorary senior member of this guild; and that he be pre- 
sented with the suitable regalia representing that grade of 
membership; and furthermore, that this testimonial is not 
intended by us to entail any sort of obligation upon that 
honorable gentleman, beyond his acceptance of this, our homage 
of respect. 

On behalf of the society which we represent, and upon our 
own part, we feel honored, dear Sir, to subscribe ourselves. 

Clarence A. Walworth, 

Director. 
James J. Franklin, 

Regent. 
Edward Judge, 

Vice-Regent. 
Thomas Cavanaugh, 

Marshal. 
Charles McAulay, 

Financial Clerk. 
Owen Kelly, 

Treasurer. 
William Taafe, 

Secretary. 
A handsome box containing the regalia of the society, with 
the badge worn by members of the senior grade, was then 
presented. Mr. Keegan responded in a very happy manner, 
and with great feeling. Two hours were spent in social enjoy- 
ment before the pleasant party broke up. 

TOTAL ABSTINENCE UNION. 
(From the Troy Press, May 29, 1882.) 
The State convention of the Metropolitan Total Abstinence 
Union of New York convened at the City Hall this morning. 
The body was called to order by James F. Wilkinson of 
Albany, president of the union. Fifty-six societies are repre- 
sented by three delegates each. The union has powerful organ- 
izations in New York, Newburgh, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Hud- 
son, Albany, Saugerties, Rondout, Rochester, Utica, Syracuse, 



272 Life Sketches of Father Wat^woeth. 

Buffalo, Auburn, Oswego, Troy and other places. After the 
call of the roll the delegates visited St. Mary's Church, where 
Mass was celebrated by the Rev. Father Havermans. The 
members of the convention after Mass returned to the City 
Hall, about 11 o'clock. After being called to order, Rev. 
Clarence A. Walworth of Albany presented the following reso- 
lutions which were adopted without a dissenting vote : 

Resolved, 1st, That the object of this union is not merely 
to provide for the safety or the perfection of its own members, 
but also to " oppose and uproot the baneful vice of drunken- 
ness," * by the " systematic application of every available 
means, religious or otherwise." 

2d, That the sale of intoxicating drinks upon the Lord's 
Day is not only a violation of the laws of the State and the 
precepts of the Church, but also a fruitful source of intem- 
perance,- and that we are bound in the very nature of this 
union to oppose it, and to seek by every available means to 
uproot it. 

3d, That " in view of the curse of drunkenness which lies 
like a blight upon this generation," it is right and necessary 
to surround the sale of intoxicating drinks by salutary re- 
straints of law, and that it is the especial vocation of tem- 
perance men and the duty of all good citizens to sustain such 
laws and encourage their enforcement. 

Father Walworth's Remarks. 

Father Walworth prefaced his resolutions by showing the 
necessity of having in every organization definite aims and 
objects. Special efforts should be made to produce practical 
results, by an accepted plan of operations. He then explained 
the scope and bearing of each resolution in detail, bringing to 
bear illustrations derived from long experience. His explana- 
tion of the third resolution was lengthy and forcible, display- 
ing an accurate and extensive knowledge of the Excise Laws 
which were adopted in 1857 by the Legislature of New York 
State. Father Walworth's ability to expound the laws of the 



* The words in quotation marks are those of Pope Leo XII^., 
Bp. O'Coimor, S. J., and Cardinal Manning. 



WiELDijiTG Tempeeance Sledoe-Hammer. 273 

state will not be questioned by any one familiar with his 
early life and his intercourse with Chancellor Walworth. In 
conclusion, Father Walworth urged the necessity of enforcing 
existing laws in the State of New York before wasting energy 
in the attempt to make new laws. The enemies of the tem- 
perance cause have greater opportunities to pervert new laws 
and to confuse the public mind. The old are good, have been 
tested and fortified by competent legal interpretations, and 
if vigorously applied would be productive of excellent results. 

The WeeJcly Union of ^ew York, June 10, 1882, 
gives the wording of an Address to tlie Catholics of 
the State of Isew York, formulated at the above meet- 
ing of the C. T. A. Union at Troy and signed by the 
following temperance advocates there present: Rev. 
Thos. McMillan, C. S. P., Eev. J. J. Brennan, 
J. W. O'Brien, A. Fatten, W. T. Keene and J. H. 

Smith. 

THE EXCISE QUESTION. 

(From the Argus, March 3, 1883.) 

A meeting of the Senate Committee on Cities and Villages 
was held on Thursday afternoon, and a hearing given to a 
delegation of clergymen of Albany, who appeared in opposi- 
tion to the sweeping amendment of the " Excise Laws " con- 
tained in the act recently passed through the Assembly. 

The Rev.. Dr. Battershall of St. Peter's opened the question, 
first introducing to the committee the Rev. Wm. S. Smart 
of the First Congregational Church, Rev. Henry M. King, of 
the Emanuel Baptist Church, Father Walworth, of St. Mary's 
and Rev. James H. Ecob, of the Second Presbyterian Church. 
These gentlemen all addressed the committee in the order 
named. * * * 

Father Walworth spoke at considerable length. He said 
that although not a member of the clerical committee, he 
was very glad to appear upon their invitation. * * * He 
declared that the Excise Laws of 1857, as they stood in their 
original symmetry, constituted a wise, beautiful and thorough 



274 LiFF -SIketches of Father Walworth. 

Bystem, * * * Although, unfortunately, they had been 
injured by amendments, and although they had been and still 
were too generally evaded, they had not lost all their ex- 
cellence nor could they be considered as entirely inoperative. 
This he based not only upon his own experience, but upon the 
fact of the constant effort made by liquor traders to ruin 
the law by amendments or by repeal. He repudiated tne idea 
that the Legislature should legislate chiefly for the interests 
of the trade, but rather in the interests of the people, and in 
pity and mercy for the millions suffering through the trade, 
and whose numbers and whose woes were always increased by 
every extension of the so-called liquor interest. 

He gave a short history also, of the Excise Laws, to show 
that the complications of the law, as it stands, had not 
grown out of defects in the law, but to meet the wishes of 
violators of the law, and the perjuries of government officials. 
He agreed with those who had preceded him in demanding 
that the law should be left without further mutilation until 
neecessity for it should be done away with, by some strong 
substitute of greater simplicity and still more effective to 
suppress intemperance, such as the high licenses already pro- 
posed. * * * 

Senator McCarthy remarked, as the reverend gentlemen re- 
tired, that manifestly political questions had no place in their 
arguments or their thoughts. 



Wielding Temperance Sledge-Hammer. 275 

RESTRAINT, NOT PROHIBITION. 
An Opinion on Local Option. 

In ^^An Answer to ^N'eal Dow " printed in The 
Catholic ^Vorld, and beginning with the text of 
Governor Dow's Letter to the editor of that maga- 
zine, dated at '^ Portland, Maine, September 27, 
1883,'^ Father Walworth writes, as follows: 

The earnest and sincere advocates of sobriety, good order 
and happiness in society must unite wherever they can. We 
cannot afford to treat each other as foes, and thus play into 
the hands of the common enemy. 

This great question in New York State is fast approaching 
to a crisis. Late events have done much to reveal the animus 
and tyranny of the liquor-trade. It is munificent in its 
bribes, unbounded in its exactions, and in its dominion as 
merciless as Fate. 

" The patient Daemon sits 

With roses and a shroud; 
He has his way, and deals his gifts — 

But ours is not allowed." 

Never before were its janissaries so bold and unscrupulous, 
and never before did its slaves so feel the lash. But its do- 
minion must soon come to a close. The Commonwealth is 
awaking to the danger. The cause is not now a cause of 
temperance societies. The people feel a fatal drain which 
flutters the common heart. They demand that something shall 
be done ; and they demand a something that shall be effectual. 
What shall it be? 

This question is ii politicas! one, but not in any sense of 
party politics. It is not a question of religion, though it has 
a religious side on which men must face their consciences and 
square themselves with the eternal principles of morality. 
Men of all religious denominations and men who belong to 
none can join heartily in combined effort to procure good laws 
for the suppression of intemperance. * • * 



276 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Most Catholics, I think, share the reluctance felt by so many 
others to a total prohibition of the sale. A restraint upon 
natural liberty so absolute and unsparing, although not beyond 
the altum dominium which pertains to the State, cannot ba 
wise until its necessity as a last resort becomes evident. 

* * * Expedients less trenchant are not yet all exhausted. 
Whatever measure may be adopted, it may be made secure 

and permanent in its fundamental policy by a constitutional 
provision. Experience shows that any code provided by one 
Legislature is soon rescinded or fatally mutilated by another. 
In New York State this is certain. The great body of the 
people are engaged in their own private affairs, and cannot be 
roused to action every year on questions affecting the general 
welfare. 

'Tis the day of the chattel, 

Web to weave, and corn to grind; 

Things are in the saddle. 
And ride mankind. 

The liquor-dealers, however, when grinding their own corn^ 
are always face to face with this question. Their private in- 
terest is always at stake. Whatever diminishes drinking 
diminishes their gains and commands their constant attention. 
They are banded together in a league which sits continually, 
deliberates secretly, acts quickly, ostracizes mercilessly. Those 
in the trade (and such there are) who would willingly recon- 
cile it with their consciences, who would gladly see it re- 
stricted to fewer and more respectable hands, are made to play 
their part in the ring under the vigilance of eyes whose jealousy 
they dare not awaken. * * * It marks tradesmen with a 
ban and forbids to trade with them. It has a common purse, 
which can be drawn upon at short notice and used secretly. 

* * * How readily this trade can undo in a single session 
what the people, rising in their might, had decreed and meant 
to establish forever! * * * Is it wonderful that so many 
call for a constitutional provision? * » ♦ 

We must not look to the civil law to do all the work. 
Other forces, moral and religious, must carry the reformation 
farther. * * * 

" Local option " leaves the front gates of Hell open. It 
abandons New York city and Brooklyn and all the large 



Wielding Temperance Sledge-Hammer. 277 

cities to the tender mercies of the great moral monster. 
* * * Let every citizen take his conscience in his hand 
when he goes to the polls. Let him ask himself if this cause 
does not lift itself high above every question of party politics. 
Let him see that he helps into office no hireling of the trade, 
nor any one that cannot be counted on to sustain wholesome 
laws restraining it. And, finally, let not the friends of so- 
briety lose courage from past failures or mistakes. To use 
the old rhyme which Sir Walter Scott so delighted in: 

" If it isna weel bobbit 
Weel bobbit, weel bobbit, 
If it isna weel bobbit, 
Wee'll bob it again." 

THE HIGH LICENSE BILL. 

INTEBESTING HEABING BEFORE THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. 

(From the Albany Times, Feb. 26, 1886.) 

Conflicting Views on the Subject — Lawyers, Ministers, Pro- 
hihiiionists and Brewers Express Their Sentiments. 

The first hearing of this session of the Legislature on the 
High License Bill was held by the Excise Committee at the 
Assembly Chamber, last evening. * * * Among those 
present were Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, Robert Graham, 
Austin Abbott, Gen, Wager Swayne of New York, Rev. 
George Muller, H. Clay Bascom, Father Walworth, Rev. Dr. 
Battershall, Rev. Mr. Kenyon, Rev. Mr. Fulcher, Mr. and Mrs. 
George R. Howell, Fred H. Wheeler, Aaron Veeder, Assembly- 
men Erwin and O'Brien, Henry Clausen of New York; Mayor 
Fitzgerald of Troy; William N. Outhout, Henry Bartholomew 
and Moses Hayes, of Rochester. * * * 

Father Walworth said he had been requested to speak on the 
subject because, as he was a Catholic priest, he would be sup- 
posed to represent that Church. He did not claim to do that, 
and did not feel entitled to represent the views of Catholics. 
That Church, however, had spoken with authority to her 
children on this subject. Here he read the following extract 
from the pastoral letter of the Archbishops and Bishops of 
the United States in the Third Plenary Council at Baltimore 
in 1884: 



278 Life Sketches of Fathek Wae worth. 

" There is one way of profaning the Lord's Day which is 
so prolific of evil results that we consider it our duty to utter 
against it a special condemnation. This is the practice of 
selling beer or other liquors on Sunday, or of frequenting 
places where they are sold. This practice tends more than 
any other to turn the day of the Lord into a day of dis- 
sipation — to use it as an occasion for breeding intemperance. 
While we hope that Sunday laws on this point will not be 
relaxed but even more rigidly enforced, we implore all 
Catholics, for the love of God and of country, never to take 
part in such Sunday traffic, nor to patronize or countenance 
it. And we not only direct the attention of all pastors to the 
repression of this abuse, but we also call upon them to induce 
all of their flocks that may be engaged in the sale of liquors 
to abandon as soon as they can the dangerous traffic, and to 
embrace a more becoming way of making a living." 

In The Voice of ISTew York, March 4, 1886, 
the conclusion of this same speech of Father Wal- 
worth is thns reported: 

Speaking of the argument often used, that moral suasion is 
what is needed and not legal restriction, he said : " Who is it 
that needs more persuasion on the evils of intemperance and 
the necessity for abstinence from all intoxicating liquor? Is 
it the drunkard ? " Then raising his hands toward Heaven, 
and in a very effective manner, he continued, " O my God ! if 
I could show the crowds of men and women that come to my 
home for assistance on account of this drink devil! I am sure 
you would not think they needed to be persuaded! Every 
man of them wishes the accursed traffic was in the bottom of 
the ocean. They are weak, gentlemen, they cannot resist the 
fearful appetites and passions which are fastened upon them, 
while the temptations and pitfalls are upon every hand, and 
they are looking hopefully to you to lend them the strong 
arm of the law to succor them from a hell upon earth and 
a fearful eternity." 

He then refuted very emphatically the statement of Howard 
Crosby that beer and wine were drinks that should be en- 
couraged. I could but notice and study (adds the correspond- 



WiELDiis^G Tempeeaiyce Sledge-Hammer. 279 

ent) the faces of Dr. Crosby and Robert Graham, as they saw 
their pet theories and arguments so ruthlessly demolished by 
a speaker introduced by themselves to support their own bill. 
* * * Mr. Bascom was followed by Prof. Cook of Potsdam. 
Among the beer speakers was a very small man, with a very 
small head, a retreating forehead, a very long nose, with a 
large pair of glasses on the extreme end of the same, and a 
squeaky voice and broken dialect. His most important and 
philosophical statement was : 

" Mr, Cheerman, dese demperance beeples are crazy. Dey 
tinks dey can shtop de visky bizness. It vould be shust as 
zensible to make a law vat vould make ebery von of dem 
demperance mans drink, vedder he vanted to ^or not, as to 
make a law vat says, ' no pody shall have a schooner of 
larger ven he vants one.' " * * * 

The hearing was adjourned at 10.30 until some future date. 
I am told the committee having in charge the bill to submit 
the amendment to the people have privately decided to report 
the bill favorably, and that the plan is to pass it in the 
Assembly and kill it in the Senate. * * * Meanwhile the 
thinking men in the State are slowly getting their eyes open, 
and a great political revolution is inevitable in the near 
future. 

This last-quoted report is signed, Ered H. 
Wheeler. The bill referred to was drafted by Mr. 
Austin Abbott. 

A NEW ERA. 

(From the Chicago Inter-Ocean, March 6, 1887.) 
Father Walworth at the High Mass in St. Mary's Church, 
at Albany, N. Y., on Sunday morning, delivered the following 
discourse upon the subject of the Law and Order League : 

•■ By me kings reign and law-givers decree justice." Prov. 
vii. 16. 

Deab Brethren — All good citizens acknowledge the au- 
thority of law. We Christian men have stronger reasons than 
any to acknowledge and obey it, for we recognize the principle 
that all law derives its authority from the will of God. It is 
our religion above all that teaches us to be the friends and 



280 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

supporters of law and order. I have a special reason for 
addressing you on this subject this morning. To my mind, 
the past week has been a memorable one for Albany. It has 
been made memorable by the assembling, at the City Hall, of 
the delegates of the National Law and Order League in annual 
convention. I am no prophet; but yet the picture of these 
gentlemen assembled at the City Hall last Monday and Tues- 
day stands fixed in my mind like a prophetic vision of the 
future. In their wise deliberations and in their quiet but 
resolute faces I see the coming triumph of law and order in 
our beloved country. I mean the triumph of the country over 
the greatest foe of law and order, viz. : Over the lawless liquor 
traffic. * * * 

The temperance cause hitherto has excluded from its ranks 
a large number of citizens whose co-operation is absolutely 
necessary to chastise the liquor sellers into good order. 

* * * The motto has been " no moderate drinkers need 
apply." * * * But now, my dear brethren, a new era has 
dawned on the temperance cause. A new army is advancing. 
We hear the well-regulated tread of steady feet. It is the 
advance of the Law and Order League. Business is to be 
done, and men of business are coming to do it. Laws are to 
be enforced, and men are coming who know the laws and 
know how to enforce them. * * * AH men of all classes^ 
all religions, all professions, all occupations, all modes of 
thought and all habits of life, who love law and order are ex- 
pected and cordially invited to take part in the movement. 

* * * The intention of the league is " to secure by all 
proper ways the enforcement of existing laws, relating to the 
liquor traffic." * * * The Law and Order League has a 
peculiar and special work before it which can only be done 
and done well by laying aside all that is peculiar in religious 
or social life and making the league a unit of strength, its 
exercises such as to exclude none, and its halls of meeting 
such that every good citizen can feel at home when there. 

The Rev. Father concluded his sermon by urging the mem- 
bers of his congregation to join the league and hand in their 
names as subscribing members of the Albany branch.* 



* Many of those formerly active, in the old "Law and Order League," 
are continuing their patriotic work under another name in the newer 
organizations for "Municipal Reform." 



WiELDixG Temperance Sledge-Hammee. 281 

SUNDAY TRAFFIC. 

(From The Catholic Review, a weekly newspaper, March 

15, 1891.) 

The Excise Committee of the Assembly on Thursday, March 
5th, gave a hearing (if hearing it may be called) on the 
Schaff bill which, amongst other abominations, opens the Sun- 
day to liquor selling from one o'clock in the afternoon until 
midnight. * * * When Father Walworth's turn came to 
speak, he said that under the ruling of the committee (to 
which he and Mr. Chapman had objected as unfair) he could 
not pretend to oflfer an argument, but had only time enough 
to enter a protest against the bill, which he would do in 
compliance with a letter of request from the secretary of the 
Excise Association. * * * In the course of his remarks, 
he said : " The liquor dealers wield a great power, * * * 
Their strength lies in the fact that the two great political 
parties in the State are so nearly equal that the balance of 
power is often in their hands. This false cry for freedom of 
the liquor business and for personal liberty does not come 
from the people of New York. * * * In the name of the 
true people who are your constituents, in the name of all the 
friends of quiet worship in the church and of rest in the 
household, in the name of God and of conscience, I here enter 
this protest against the Schaff bill and all similar bills. I 
trust that our protest will reach the Assembly. * * * " 

(From the Albany Evening Journal, March 16, 1891.) 
The Rev. Father Walworth, of old St. Mary's, delivered one 
of his characteristically strong sermons yesterday at the 
morning service. It was caused by the refusal of the Demo- 
cratic leaders in the Assembly to receive a petition from the 
Roman Catholic clergy of the State against the Schaff Excise 
Bill, which action has caused the greatest indignation through- 
out the State, Father Walworth took for his text : " Remem- 
her that thou keep holy the 8ahl)ath day." 

BIG EXCISE HEARING. 

(From the Argus, February 12, 1892.) 

The Assembly chamber was crowded yesterday afternoon at 

the hearing, on the excise bill. * * * Judge Arnoux said 

there were representatives of various societies present, and he 



282 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

did not think they could all present their objections this 
afternoon. They would ask for a further hearing, therefore. 
He said that an eminent Catholic clergyman, Rev. Father 
Walworth of Albany, notwithstanding his physical infirmities, 
had consented to be present, and he asked that he be heard 
first. 

His speech on this occasion was widely reported. 
Here is a brief notice of it: 

The Albany correspondent of the Brooklyn Eagle gives a 
graphic account of Father Walworth's appearance at the hear- 
ing against the liquor dealers' excise bill, in the following 
words : 

There was a dramatic scene in the Assembly Chamber on 
Thursday afternoon during the progress of the hearing on the 
liquor dealers' excise bill. It was when Father Walworth, 
pastor of the oldest Catholic Church in Albany, declared his 
allegiance to truth as the stronger force in the world. His 
appearance is that of the ideal priest. He is tall and straight 
and graceful. His pale face is intellectual and stern in repose, 
but it became gentle at times as he spoke. The bald spot on 
his head was covered with a close-fitting velvet skull cap, 
from which his silver hair projected as a halo. After saying 
that there were many men in public life who kept watch of the 
various forces and allied themselves with the stronger force, 
and that many thought that the liquor party was stronger 
than any other, he said that he was reminded of the legend 
of St. Christopher who made a vow to serve the strongest 
master and allied himself with the devil.. While traveling 
in company with the devil one day, they approached a crucifix 
and the devil quaked with fear and told Christopher that it 
represented the King of Glory. As a result Christopher de- 
cided to serve the King of Glory, who was stronger than the 
devil. * * * Here the venerable priest raised himself 
to his full height and said: 

" Like St. Christopher, in early youth I made a vow to serve 
the stronger, to serve the King of Glory. If the power which 
the advocates of this bill represent is the stronger power, 
then all my life has been a failure. But I don't believe it. 



Wielding Temperai^ce Sledge-Hammek. 283 

I believe that truth and right always win the last battle." 
Then with his voice quivering with scorn, he demanded : " Who 
is the King of Glory which these men serve? Is it King Billy 
McGlory, the prince of dive keepers? Do they think that he 
and his kind are the stronger force ? " Later in the hearing 
Excise Commissioner William J. Andrews, of New York, in 
defending the Sunday opening clause of the bill, said that in 
Europe both priests and people visited the beer gardens on 
Sunday afternoon after service and drank in public; and re- 
marked that the Church was evidently in favor of such 
practices there. The priest turned on him with his face 
flushed with indignation at such an imputation, and de- 
manded : 

" Do you find any such thing in the canons of the Catholic 
Church? That is the place to look for them. They say that 
it is a disgrace." 

Father Walworth is a picturesque figure, and he had closer 
attention while he spoke than was accorded to any one else. 

FATHER WALWORTH PAYS HIS COMPLIMENTS TO 

CROKER & CO. 

(From the Albany Evening Journal, Feb. 22, 1892.) 

* * * Father Walworth said that he had come from a 
sick-bed to speak to his congregation in warning against the 
monster that was in their midst — an infamous monster with 
four heads and forty thousand horns. The terrible heads of 
the monster are the four leaders of Tammany Hall and the 
horns are the liquor sellers numbered by their statistics. 

The Catholic clergy appealed to the legislators last year and 
their appeal was rejected. * * * The clergy would not 
attempt another petition to the Assembly. They would appeal 
to the people of the State — would appeal to them, for the 
love and honor of the Most High, to rescue themselves and 
their Legislature from out of the hands and influence of bad 
men, to remove the influence of Tammany Hall — that blot of 
iniquity on the escutcheon of the Democracy of New York 
State. 



284 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

When Democrats of New York had gathered to the ratifica- 
tion meeting got up by Tammany Hall — 

O, where was Cleveland then? 
One blast upon his bugle horn 
Were worth a thousand men. 

The platform as now adopted by Tammany leaders was miser- 
ably defective and misleading; it was an outrage. 

On the Excise Laws, he said, there should be no repeal 
whatever, unless it be to increase the restrictions without 
changing the language of our time-honored statutes. 

On the ballot question, he said that no man who sold liquor 
or enlisted in any capacity in the liquor interest should be 
voted for. 

Speaking of the sale of liquors on Sundays, he said that 
there should be no sale of liquor on the Lord's Day; not even 
for a minute, night or day. Let the thirsty go thirsty from 
Saturday to Monday in God's name. They had done it before 
and could do it again. 

The Tammany Hall delegation were in Albany 
at the time. Mr. Croker himself, unknown to the 
pastor, was in the church listening to these words. 
At the church door, he was asked bv a member of 
the congregation what he thought of the preaching, 
and was heard to exclaim, as he slowly shook his 
head: " Weill that sermon takes tlie cahe!'' 

The next year, Father Walworth contributed the 
following article to a local newspaper: 

THE CAUSE OF TEMPERANCE. 
(From the Albany Knickerbocker, Oct. 9, 1893.) 
Editors Press: * * * I wish to call the attention of my 
fellow citizens, especially the attention of those who like my- 
self are Democrats, to the platform adopted by the Democratic 
convention at Saratoga which closed its strange proceedings 
yesterday. I pass by all other questions as being for the 
present moment of lesser importance than this one great 
moral and religious matter. 



WiELDiis^G Temperance Sledge-Hammer. 285 

The Democratic platform just adopted at Saratoga expects 
me and all other friends of temperance in the Democratic 
party to swallow the following monstrous lie. After justly 
glorifying the said party of the State now in power for several 
reforms which it had inaugurated and carried out, it mentions 
the following as one: 

" It has placed on the statute-books a new Excise Law, 
revising and consolidating previous confused and conflicting 
statutes — a measure intelligently and equitably framed, care- 
fully regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors, prescribing 
just fees for licenses, and preserving all needed restrictions 
for the maintenance of order and the good of society." 

I deny that it has made the statutes less confused and 
conflicting than they were before. ^' ^- ^'" I deny that it 
carefully regulates the sale of intoxicating liquors. I deny 
that it prescribes just fees for licenses. It simply provides 
very low fees for licentious traffic, traffic on Sundays, traffic 
to keep young people out late at night in unhealthy exercise 
and with dangerous companions filled with drink. It takes 
away the right from officers of the law to become witnesses 
capable of proving the unlawful sales. It takes away from 
unfortunate wives and husbands the power of prosecuting 
saloon-keepers * * * for destroying the family peace. I 
deny that the present Excise Law preserves all needed restric- 
tions for the maintenance of order and the good of society. 
It is, on the contrary, the chief promoter of riots and dis- 
order. It adds penury and incarceration to the misery and 
disgrace of the poor. 

I leave to my Protestant fellow citizens the task of saying 
what their churches think of this hypocritical plank in the 
platform. My eyes, now almost blinded, only allow me and 
that with difficulty, to follow what the church, which I believe 
in and follow with loving trust, thinks and says of all this 
fol-de-rol. 

The Columbian Catholic Congress of the United States as- 
sembled in Chicago last month adopted a platform contain- 
ing as its ninth resolution several wise and salutary pro- 
visions regarding the cause of temperance. For brevity's sake, 
we give only the following: 



286 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

" We favor the enactment of appropriate legislation to re- 
strict and regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors; and em- 
phasizing the admonition of the last Plenary Council of Balti- 
more, We urge Catholics everywhere to get out and keep out 
of the saloon business." 

In attendance at this Catholic Congress, amidst a vast 
crowd of clergymen and laymen, were present, Monsignor 
Satolli, the Apostolic Delegate of our Holy Father, Leo XIII; 
Cardinal Gibbons, who opened the congress, had been obliged 
by other duties to leave; our own Archbishop, Most Rev. M. 
A. Corrigan of New York, was there; as also Archbishop 
Ryan, of Philadelphia, Archbishop Elder of Cincinnati, Arch- 
bishop Ireland of St, Paul and a crowd of other prelates and 
distinguished priests and laymen, too numerous to mention. 
* * * Others will do as their judgment and conscience 
may direct. For my part to whatever extent I may support 
the State ticket, I will never consent to give my vote for any 
legislator, common councilman or any judicial officer who will 
not publicly discard this plank in the platform and promise 
to give his vote and influence against it, if elected. 

C. A. WALWORTH. 

The aboiv^e clipping was the last one on the subject 
of Temperance which Father Walworth pasted into 
his scrap-book. His long fight against the liquor in- 
terests in 'New York State was drawing to a close. 
His clarion voice had filled the Assembly Chamber 
for the last time. The twilight of old age was upon 
him. Had the Democratic leaders given better heed 
to his warnings and others like his, though less boldly 
spoken, they might have been longer at the helm. 
Less discredit would have fallen on the good old 
party of the plain people in the great Empire State, 
which in our day, like Virginia of old, has proved 
herself to be a nursing mother of Presidents. 



XIII. 

A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY. 

The Albany Bi-Centennial — The American Sunday — 
Letters of Officials. 

The Christinas Argus for the year 1903 contained 
these words from the pen of Rev. J. J. Lynch, 
S. T. L., wherein appears with crystaline clearness a 
prevailing local opinion as to the citizenship of one 
who had been three years dead: 

^' Father Wahvorth, that earnest, tireless worker 
in the cause of total abstinence, is still lovingly re- 
membered in Albany where his civic activity brought 
him into friendly relations with many good men who 
were not of his belief, but whose esteem and affec- 
tion he won without yielding one jot or tittle of his 
W'hole principle, w^hich rested on the firm rock of 
Catholic faith, thus surmounting the barriers of 
prejudice and bigotry." 

The first clergyman at Fort Orange, Dominie 
Megapolensis, had befriended the Jesuit priest, Isaac 
Jogues, whose dangerous work of converting savages 
brought him into the Mohawk and Hudson valleys in 
1642; and, on equally firm planks of friendship at 
the same spot, have stood the moral leaders of ^ew 
York's Capital City during the latter jDart of the 
nineteenth century. Thereby, their power for good 
has been much strengthened. Her citizens gener- 



288 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

ally will not deny tliat the personality and patriot- 
ism of Father Walworth, together with his love of 
local history, had a generous share in cementing 
that friendship. 

When their talented Mayor, John Boyd Thacher, 
afterward prominent at the Chicago World's Fair, 
and who has not ceased to add to his store of his- 
torical knowledge, determined in 1886 to celebrate 
the Bi-Centennial of Albany's City Charter, Father 
Walworth went heart and soul into the project. 
Both were fond of Indian lore, and determined that 
the aborigines should be represented at the celebra- 
tion; and so they were. Invitations were sent to 
Mohawk Indians, and as Father Walworth already 
knew a number of them he was promised a cordial 
welcome to as many as he should persuade to appear. 
Chief Joseph Skye of Caughnawaga, P. Q., agreed to 
bring with him a score or more of his tribe, including 
singers skillful in Iroquois music, from the old Mis- 
sion settlement near the Great Rapid of the St. 
Lawrence river. Others /were expected to come 
from the St. Regis Reservation in 'New York 
State. These Mohawks had not, like those at Brant- 
ford, sided against us in the Revolutionary War. In 
the War of 1812, St. Regis had furnished us with 
staunch defenders on the side of the United States. 
The far earlier friendship of the Dutch burghers and 
Mohawks was still remembered by these civilized 
and now thoroughly Christian descendants of those 
most warlike people of the famous Five IN'ations of 
Iroquois. It was at Albany, then Fort Orange, that 
they had first secured better weapons than arrows; 
there in the early days abundance of powder and shot 



A CiTizEw^ OF ^o Mean City. 289 

could be had for beaver skins, as well as beads, 
scissors and blankets. Since the children of Corlaer, 
descendants of all the Vans that first settled Eens- 
selaerwyck, were celebrating those far-back days and 
wanted their presence '' in full feather," they con- 
sented to come in their richest garments of red, yel- 
low and purple, displaying besides all the glory of 
their Indian ornaments. Head gear of turkey 
feathers, wampum belts and beadwork, all their gaily 
woven tokens of rank and treasures long laid by, 
were brought to light and worn for this occasion. 
On Friday afternoon, Jxilj 18, 1886, Father Wal- 
worth, a member of the reception committee, met 
Chief Joseph Skye at the Albany railway station, 
where a vast crowd had gathered. Seated beside the 
Chief in a carriage, with both civic and military 
escorts, and to the sound of martial music he drove 
with him to the City Hall, to be greeted by the 
Mayor. The pastor of historic St. Mary's was 
just then a proud and happy man. He saw by 
the way they were received that these Indians 
would be a notable feature of the week's celebra- 
tion. He knew the character of the Chief, and 
was assured by him that this carefully selected 
band of Catholic Mohawks would bring no dis- 
credit on their faith or their nation. The gracious 
speech of the Mayor to Chief Joseph Skye was 
responded to in Iroquois, and was made known to 
the citizens through an interpreter. Thus had that 
same lingual and musical utterance — born of the 
murmuring, rustling forests — been put into Dutch 
for the Albany traders two hundred years before. 
In 1686, but few beyond their teens had yet learned 
to speak the English of Governor Dongan, the signer 



290 Life Sketches of Father Waewokth. 

of the document that made Peter Schuyler Mayor. 
It made him first in the longest line of Mayors 
that have upheld the chartered rights of any city 
within the hounds of the United States. The 
freedom of this ancient city was formally given to 
the Mohawks, as to other guests, in 1886, and 
they were escorted in procession to the different city 
gates. These were temporary structures erected to 
recall the time when the burghers protected them- 
selves with a wall of stockadoes, its openings being 
few and far between. This ceremony of throwing 
open the gates of the city so pleased the citizens at the 
time of the Bi-Centennial that it has since become 
customary on joyful civic occasions. The procession 
of Indian guests with their escort was formed at the 
railway station in the following order : Police, under 
command of Sergeant Kavanagh, Albany City Band, 
Jackson Corps, city officials of the public reception 
committee in a carriage, Mohawk Indians afoot, 
Father Walworth and Chief Joseph Skye and Angus 
George in a carriage ; last, but not least, in 
picturesque effect and glow of colors, sixteen squaws 
in carriages were easily to be counted in the slow 
ascent of State street. They proceeded in line of 
march thus to the City Hall where they entered the 
Common Council Chamber. Here the guests were 
introduced to the Mayor by the Rector of St. Mary's 
Church. What follows is from the Argus of July 
13, 1886: 

Father Walworth's Address. 

Mr. Mayor: I have the pleasure of presenting to Your 
Honor and to the authorities of this city this delegation from 
the village of Caughnawaga which, as you know, is situated 
at the great fall near the city of Montreal. They are what 



A CiTizE]sr OF 1^0 Mean City. 291 

we call Iroquois, or as they call themselves, Konochioni. They 
are mostly of Mohawk blood, or to use the name they prefer, 
they are Kanienga-Kaka or the people of the Flint. They 
come here by your invitation and at the request of the 
city officials to partake of your hospitality, and I am sure 
that not only Your Honor and the city authorities, but all the 
ciizens are glad to see them and extend to them the hospital- 
ities of the city. 

Reply of the Mayor. 

To these words Mayor Thacher responded as follows: 
Chiefs, many moons ago, almost more than you can count 
with the beads upon your wampum belt, your fathers gave a 
hospitable welcome and the hand of friendship to our fathers 
as they landed on these shores. It is now our turn to greet 
you and give you our welcome. Then we were few in num- 
bers, while you were like the leaves of the forest. Then we 
were weak, while you were strong, and witli that weapon, the 
tomahawk, so dreaded by the whites, you could easily have 
destroyed us. Instead of that you passed us the pipe of peace 
and bade us be your friends. We can do no less now than 
to call you friends, extend to you the hospitalities of our city, 
and assign you an important part in our festivities. Chiefs, 
we are in the enjoyment of a form of government which is as 
peculiar as it is strong and enduring. It is a single nation, 
made up of many States, bound together by one indissoluble 
tie. This idea of a union was foreshadowed by your own con- 
federation of the Five Nations, The truth that in union 
strength is found was not taught you by white men — was 
not revealed to you by the men of Europe. Long before a 
white man visited these shores — before this place was settled 
— the great league of the Iroquois was established. What a 
power it made the Five Nations! 

And what a history you have withal! Your poet sings 
your legendary myths and tells in strange cadence of the 
marvellous bird which destroyed Hiawatha's only daughter. 
Your people repeat still the national tale of Ta-oun-ye-wa-tha 
and his birch-bark canoe as they floated down the Mohawk 
to the Canienga toMTi; and our people tell the story — and 
shall tell it until virtue ceases to be interesting to our kind 
and we grow weary of constancy and truth — the story of 



292 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Indian faith and fidelity. Our ancestors found in your people 
a race with whom a promise was kept with all the exaction 
of necessity and with whom constancy to a plighted word was 
as imperative as destiny. 

Among all the memories of the past revived by your visit 
here, there is nothing more satisfactory to us, nothing which 
speaks more clearly of the pleasant relations which existed 
between your people and ours in the middle of the seventeenth 
century, than the fact that in all our dealing with you, in all 
our acquisitions of land we robbed you of nothing but paid 
for what we got, and with the purchase we obtained what 
gold and silver could not buy and what was of infinitely more 
value to us, the confidence and friendship of the Indians. 

Therefore, your presence here now and the knowledge that 
you will tarry with us during our celebration and join with 
us in our ceremonies is a source of congratulation with out 
people, and I speak for all of them when I declare again, that 
you are very, very welcome. 

Father Walworth then said: Mr. Mayor, the Chief, Joseph 
Skye, is desirous of making a reply to Your Honor in the 
Iroquois tongue. It was interpreted by L. M. Jocks: 

Speech of the Chief. 

Your Honor — This gentleman wishes to express his thanks 
to you for your invitation and to assist as far as he can in 
your arrangements for the celebration. When we arrived in 
the city and saw the people gathered around to see us and 
as we witnessed the decorations we supposed that Indians 
and white people are to meet as friends. I now wish to ac- 
commodate you all I can. Your Honor, I cannot reply to every- 
thing you have said, as I do not understand English as well 
as I do our Indian. As we know, the State of New York has 
been bought by your ancestors, but the money must have been 
received by the Indians of St. Regis and other tribes, for the 
Caughnawagas did not get it, so I must not refer to this any 
further. Your Honor. 

The address was greeted with loud applause. 

The City Band favored the audience with a selection of 
music. Then followed a song by several of the delegation in 
the Indian language. 



A Citizen of No Mean City. 293 

After Father Walworth had presented the visitors indi- 
vidually to Mayor Thacher, they were escorted to the Avenue 
House on Wasliington avenue, their headquarters during their 
stay.* 

[These Indians arrived Saturday afternoon and on the next 
day, Sunday, Bi-Centennial week opened formally at St. 
Mary's Church with a military mass, the first of its kind in 
Albany. The Jackson Corps assisted in their gorgeous uni- 
forms. The Indian choir occupied that part of the sanctuary 
which extends in front of the lady-chapel. The front pews 
were reserved for the Mayor and other city officials. The 
hour for this mass had been finally agreed upon in a conver- 
sation by telephone between Mayor Thacher at Albany and 
Father Walworth off at Middleburgh in the Schoharie Valley. 
Thither he had gone for a brief rest, and it was there that he 
dictated to the writer of these sketches the notes for his 
Bi-Centennial sermon. Before it is here given as reported at 
the time in the local papers, some descriptive details of the 
scene in Saint ]\Iary's Church on that eventful Bi-Centennial 
Sunday, gathered from the accounts of eye-witnesses, may be 
of interest. They will give to the pastor's historic discourse 
its appropriate setting.] 

Long before the usual hour for High Mass, the streets near 
the old church were thronged with a dense mass of humanity, 
all eager to gain admission. Careful preparations had been 
.made for the care of this vast multitude, so the best of order 
prevailed whilst the greatest possible number were admitted 
within the building. Those possessing cards of admission 
entered first, a squad of policemen looking after their in- 
terests. They came early and were comfortably seated before 
the arrival of the officials and the Indians, who entered to the 
music of a brilliant march played by the organist. 



* Names of the Indian Party as registered at the Avenue House : 
Chief Joseph Skye, Francis Skye, Mary Skye, Chief Angus 
George, Joseph Murray, Big Joe. M. Peflere, Jos. Foster, Jos. 
Delisle, Moses Dealow, L. M. Jocks, John Steacy, Peter Canton, 
Joseph Diahow, Mrs. Diabow, Paul Laronde, Mrs. Laronde and 
Jack, Miss Martin, 3kliss Jocks, Miss Jacobs, Miss Burns, Mrs. 
.locks, Mrs. Delisle, Mrs. Jamieson. Mrs. French and daughter, 
Mrs. Diorme, Mrs. Marrion, Mich'l Larfa, Mrs. Garlow. 



294: Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

The decorations and ceremonies were well de- 
scribed by the Albany Express of the next day in 
these words: 

Extending from the porch arch was a pole bearing the 
American standard. Upon entering the church the first at- 
tractive feature that greeted the eye was the grand altar, 
the Corinthian arch with its fluted columns reaching at least 
twenty feet in heignt. At the keystone was a spread eagle 
in gold and a circle of small American flags. Two immense 
national flags were gBacefully draped to either side in the 
form of curtains. About the main floor were grouped the 
distinctive banners of the various societies and sodalities of 
the church. About the galleries were American colors and 
tri-colored rosettes. The rail of the organ loft was flanked 
by large American flags and a frame containing the munici- 
pal coat of arms. 

At 10.30 the old bell that calls the devout to worship rang 
out its peal and shortly after, the procession entered the 
sacred edifice. The order was as follows: His Honor the 
Mayor, John Boyd Thacher, Committee of the Common Coun- 
cil, Committee of the Committee of Twenty-five, city officials, 
Caughnawaga Indians, in Indian costume, boys singing " Holy 
God We Praise Thy Name," Fathers Lanahan and Dillon; 
after these, the crossbearer and acolytes, clergy, visiting and 
resident, Rt. Rev. Bishop Wadhams of Ogdensburgh. Pre- 
vious to the grand entry the Albany Jackson Corps, Major 
Jas. MacFarlane commanding, had entered and presented arms 
as the procession passed. After the clergy had reached the 
altar the military passed up the middle aisle and formed in 
front across the church immediately behind the rails. The 
Indians passed to the right and occupied seats inside the 
rails near the altar of St. Mary. Then was begun the solemn 
grand pontifical High Mass. 

The following clergy officiated: Celebrant, Rt. Rev. Bishop 
Wadhams ; assistant priest, Very Rev. Father Ludden, admini- 
strator; deacons of honor, Rev. Fathers Burke and Duffy; 
deacon of the mass. Rev. Father Kennedy, of Syracuse; sub- 
deacon of the mass. Rev. Father Sherry, of Ogdensburgh dio- 



A CiTizE]^^ OF 'Ro Mean City. 295 

cese; masters of ceremonies, Rev. Fathers Dillon and Lanahan 
of St. Mary's. The visiting clergy were as follows: Albany, 
Rev. Fathers Walsh, Hanlon, Pidgeon, Byron, Burke, Merns, 
Terry, Chuciarini, Toolan, Peyton; West Troy, Sheehan; 
Johnstown, McDermott; Waterville, McDonald. 

The sight that presented itself to the eye was at once im- 
posing and impressive, long to be remembered. The candelabra 
of the sacred altar, with the radiant lights, the magnificent 
vestments of the priests, the barbaric habiliments of the In- 
dians, the scarlet uniforms of the soldiery, and the presence 
of the dignitaries of the municipality, lent a significance and 
importance to the scene that carried with it a sense of grand- 
eur and solemnity appropriate to such a momentous occasion. 
Calmly proceeded the chanting of the Mass by the reverend 
bishop. During the service the sweet voice of Father Kennedy 
fell upon the delighted ears of the assembled multitude, and 
the soldiery at the appropriate places changed and rechanged 
the manual of arms. 

Rev. Father Walworth preached the sermon. In the sacred 
robes of his office, and venerable in his bearing, this thor- 
oughly lovable and " grand old man " presented a most im- 
pressive appearance. Protestants and Catholics alike looked 
up to him as one of those men of God who, by his Christian 
life and burning zeal in the cause of God and man, had exem- 
plified all those sterling qualities that go to make up a con- 
scientious and perfect clergyman. 

The Argus, of the same date, continues thus : 

A magnificent musical programme was rendered during the 
service by the choir of the church, under the direction of Pro- 
fessor Peter Schneider, assisted by Parlati's orchestra. The 
manner in which the choir of sixty voices rendered the diffi- 
cult music selected for the occasion reflected great credit not 
only upon them, but upon their conductor, Mr. John Cassidy, 
and Professor Schneider, The solo parts were excellently 
sung by Mrs. Peter Schneider and Miss Lyons, sopranos; Miss 
Jennie T, Gilligan, alto: Mr. J. T. V. McCrone, tenor, and 
Mr. John J. Cassidy, basso. At the offertory Hummel's grand 
''Alma Virgo," soprano obligato and chorus, was rendered 



296 Life Sketches op Father Walwoeth. 

with fine effect. At the elevation of the host, the rolling of 
the drum and sound of the cornet, blending with the strains 
of the organ, produced a most pleasing harmony. 

The Jackson Corps, during the ceremony, went through 
appropriate evolutions. At the reading of the Gospel they 
presented arms, as they did also at the entrance of Father 
Walworth, and the prayer for inspiration. After the reading 
of the text they gave the military salute, and at the singing 
of the Te Deum the corps uncovered their heads. The only 
time when they were seated was during the sermon, when 
arms were stacked. 



BI-CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 
By Rev. C. A. Walworth. 

{From the Albany Evening Journal, July 19, 1886.) 

" Remember the days of old; consider all the generations. 
Ask thy father and he will show thee, thy elders and they 
will tell thee." Deut. xxxii. 6. 

Monsignor, Very Rev. and Rev. Fathers, Gentlemen of the 
Magistracy, the Common Council and Commonalty of Albany, 
Beloved Brethren of the Laity: Two hundred and forty-four 
years ago was an eventful time in the history of Albany, and 
especially in the religious history of Albany. In that year 
two remarkable men clasped friendly hands just outside the 
gate of old Fort Orange. The one was clad in the usual 
costume of a gentleman of the period, the old-fashioned three- 
cornered cocked hat, the ample vest and cut-away coat, trunk 
hose and silver-buckled shoes. The other wore a tattered 
cassock. His face was pale with signs of recent suffering. 
He had lost several fingers, which had been bitten off from 
his hands in captivity. He was still a captive and carefully 
watched by his Indian tormentors. The first of these two men 
was the celebrated Dominie Megapolensis, the first minister 
of the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany, who had just ar- 
rived from Holland. The other was the noble martyr of the 
Catholic Church, Father Isaac Jogues, a Jesuit missionary 




REV. C. A. WALWORTH. L.L.D. 



A Citizen of ^o Mean City. 297 

whom the Indians had brought with them a captive from the 
bloody terrace of Ossernenon. There several of his com- 
panions lay bathed in their blood, and amongst them that 
lovely Christian saint and first martyr of the mission, the 
young Ren6 Goupil. Would you like to see the spot where 
they suffered? It lies in the angle formed by the junction of 
the Schoharie creek with the Mohawk river. You have only 
to take the cars on the West Shore Railroad, stop at the sta- 
tion of Auriesville and mount the hill just behind it. The 
field was bought last year by the Society of Jesus. A rude 
oratory stands there now, surmounted by a cross. 

I trust that before long we shall see there a convent and a 
convent church. At the time we speak of the severed fingers 
of Father Jogues lay mingled with its dust. Four years 
later when he returned to the bloody field of his mission the 
savage Mohawks took his life also. His head, severed from 
the body, was mounted upon one of the palisades of the 
Indian fort or castle, and made to face northward toward 
Canada, from which he came. His body was thrown into the 
Mohawk and wafted on by the stream toward Albany. We 
shall never find it on earth, but I trust that many of us will 
see it again in the glory of Heaven. 

But let us return to the gate of Fort Orange and to the 
door of Dominie Megapolensis, where he and his Jesuit friend 
are clasping hands together and speaking together in the 
Latin tongue. Both were learned men, both were good men, 
and both were friendly one to the other. 

These two clergymen, both Christians, but representing be- 
liefs and worships widely differing, came here the same 
year and established themselves in the Mohawk country. The 
one followed trade hither, the other came before trade. 
Neither stayed here long; the one retired soon to New York 
city, the other retired soon to eternity. But this is the moral 
to which I wish to bring your minds: When those two good 
men joined hands, there was no bigotry in that grasp. There 
was great variance in their faith. Each one held strong con- 
victions which neither one would have consented to part with 
even to please the best friend on earth. As they differed 
from each other in these convictions, both could not be in all 
things right. There may have existed prejudice in one mind 



298 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

or the other. But adherence to truth is not bigotry; adher- 
ence to error is not bigotry; prejudice is not bigotry. Bigotry 
ia something more than a firm judgment or a false judgment. 
It is a dark, gloomy and evil passion in the heart, which can 
find no charity for those who differ from us, which can con- 
ceive no good motive in those who oppose us, which is always 
ready to believe a lie when applied to those who do not agree 
with us. When we see these two great and good men clasp- 
ing hands together, so strongly differing in religious convic- 
tions, but so full of mutual love and sympathy, it is both 
beautiful and sublime. Let us all lay it well to heart. 

It is a pleasant thing to remember that, just forty years 
later, as if in return for the charity and hospitality given by 
Albany to this suffering Catholic captive, a Catholic king in 
England and a Catholic governor of New York gave to Albany 
that happy parchment which made it a chartered city. 

The first French colony was established at Quebec in 1608. 
The city of Montreal was at first only a hospital founded in 
the wilderness by the Soeurs Hospitalieres. Its stockade was 
building at the time when Father Jogues and his companions 
were captured near by and brought to the Mohawk Valley, 
namely, in the year 1642. That same year, as I have already 
said, its first Dutch minister arrived in Albany from Holland. 

Another Catholic missionary. Father Bressani, following in 
the footsteps of Father Jogues, was horribly tortured by the 
same Indians, and passed through Albany in 1644, Father 
Jogues returned with his mutilated fingers to the Mohawks 
in 1646, and was then and there martyred. Father Poncet, 
Father Le Moyne, Fathers Fremin, Bruyas and Pierron, all 
passed through Albany on their way to and from the Indian 
castles on the Mohawk, a ground then already known as " The 
Mission of Martyrs." As early as 1667 a permanent chapel 
was established at Tionnontogen, now Spraker's Basin, and 
bore the name of St. Mary's. We find another existing at the 
sand flats near Fonda, called St. Peter's, as early at least as 
1669, under the care of Father Boniface. Here, in 1676, the 
holy Indian maiden, Tegakwita, was baptised by Father James 
de Lamberville. In that year and about the same time, the 
famous Indian warrior Kryn, " Conquerer of the Delawares," 
led a large band of converts to the new Caughnawaga, already 



A Citizen of I^o Mean City. 299 

established at the great fall near Montreal. That Catholic 
colony exists there still — you see its representatives before 
you. This was an eventful period for the Catholic faith in 
the State of New York. Missions and mission chapels were 
erected among all the five nations of the Iroquois. Numerous 
conversions were made, and, also, many martyrs suffered, both 
Frenchmen and Indian converts. This glorious period lasted 
from 1642 to 1684. The suppression of the missions was 
brought about, I grieve to say, not so much by the animosity 
of the savages against the faith as by the deadly spirit of 
covetous trade. Religion has no enemy more powerful or 
more cruel than the lust for money. The Holland Dutch 
of Albany and New York on the one side and the French of 
Canada on the other struggled together to secure the trade 
in Indian furs, and the work of the missionaries who sought 
to secure souls for God was crushed between the two. And I 
am, furthermore, sorry to say that a Catholic governor of 
New York and a Catholic governor of Canada were the prin- 
cipal agents in this unholy work of destruction. There are 
ambitious Catholic politicians of our day equally unworthy 
of the name they bear, engaged in work as unholy and as 
mischievous to their religion. They might learn a lesson by 
studying that weakly Christianity which flickered in the souls 
of Dongan and DeNonville. 

Few know the large number of Indian converts brought into 
the faith and of martyrs dying for the faith during this 
eventful period. However, let it be distinctly understood and 
well remembered that the work of these missionaries did not 
perish. Let those who think so visit the present Indian 
reservation at Caughnawaga, about twenty miles from Mon- 
treal. There a population of thirteen hundred, all Catholic 
Indians, mostly of Mohawk blood, still reside, and attend 
mass at their ancient Catholic church. Some of them you see 
here to-day. The priest who is their chaplain occupies the 
same apartments once occupied by Charlevoix, the historian 
of New France, who lived at that early period and was com-, 
panion of the missionaries that we have named. Other vil- 
lages of the same character are also found in Canada. Does 
this look like wasted work? 



300 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

Let us now pass over a period of one more century. In 
1684, Father Jean de Lamberville, the last of that devoted 
band of Catholic missionaries, whose fruitful labor among the 
Indian tribes of New York we have so briefly catalogued, de- 
parted for Canada amidst the regrets and lamentations of the 
Onondaga chiefs, who escorted him in safety to their borders. 
It was French treachery that made his departure necessary, 
but the Onondaga sages knew that the good man had no share 
in it. In 1784 no trace was left of the rude chapels which 
had been erected among the Indians of New York in the 
previous century. There were Catholics among the inhabit- 
ants of Albany, but without a church. Now and then the 
occasional visit of a priest enabled them to kneel at the holy 
sacrifice, celebrated in its simplest form in some private 
dwelling-house. Their increasing numbers soon made it neces- 
sary to erect a church and have a permanent priest. In 1796 
a meeting of these was held in the house of James Robichaud 
and the Catholics of xA.lbany were formally incorporated into 
a parish, as appears by the records in the oflSce of our 
county clerk. The children of these founders may still be 
pointed out among the worshippers of St. Mary's and the 
other churches of Albany. In 1797 the corner-stone of a 
church was laid and in 1798 the building was completed. The 
old inscription stones commemorating these events are still 
preserved in the w^alls of this present edifice, and the inscrip- 
tions are as legible as ever. The red seed which fell upon the 
soil of Albany from the mutilated fingers of Father Jogues 
sprouted again 150 years later, and this parish of St. Mary's 
still remains the earliest tree. Here still it stands, the 
central point of a stately grove, which extends over the whole 
country formerly covered by Iroquois lodges and the camps 
of their hunting grounds. Long may that noble old tree 
flourish, its branches far extended and its trunk deep rooted 
in the soil. Long may her people gather to worship at this 
shrine, earnest in their faith, devout in their worship, abound- 
ing in good works, gentle in their bearing toward all, but 
never tame to surrender that glory which belongs to their God. 



A Citizen of ^o Mean City. 301 

Another leap of fifty years brings us to another memorable 
period. In 1846 Albany was erected into an Episcopal see; 
St. Mary's became a cathedral church, presided over by the 
Rt. Rev. John McCloskey, afterward known as Cardinal 
McCloskey, first ecclesiastic raised to that dignity on this 
continent. Tokens of that cathedral building and of Cardinal 
McCloskey's ministration in it may still be seen in the base- 
ment chapel, underneath this floor. There is the same altar 
at which he ofiiciated, with its altar stone, the same taber- 
nacle, the same candlesticks, so familiar to his eyes. We 
have here present a witness to all this in the beloved and 
venerable prelate who ofiiciates this morning. You know him 
well. He was your pastor in the days I speak of. It is but 
a little while ago that the good cardinal departed to his 
reward. Requiescat in pdce. 

A shorter transit now brings us to a period in the history 
of St. Mary's crowded with memorable events of which we 
are nearly all of us witnesses. In the spring of the year 
1867, an arduous task became necessary and was begun. The 
second St. Mary's, erected in 1828, a building prematurely old 
and ready to fall, was taken down and the building of this 
present church commenced. The charge of superintending this 
arduous task fell upon a man who was also broken by labors 
and prematurely old. Only one thing could make his task 
possible, and that was the love, confidence and the generosity 
of St. Mary's congregation. If this new and last church has 
been completed, or nearly so, it is because that love, that con- 
fidence and that generosity have never failed. Glad am I on 
an occasion so memorable as this, in the presence of so many 
strangers, assembled in dear old St. Mary's, to offer this 
tribute to you, my dear brethren, who have stood by me 
during the past twenty years so faithful and so strong. 

And now let me be silent and let this present spectacle 
speak. What is it we see before us to-day? What does this 
temple say? Wliat voices come to us from its pillars and its 
arches, from its organ and its altar, and from this unusual 
concourse of worshippers? Here are chiefs and braves and 
women representatives of the Kanienga-haka, and other Iro- 
quois who once peopled these valleys and hills, which to-day 



302 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

we occupy. Although now Christians and Catholics, they 
may be taken to represent that heathenism and darkness of 
superstition which once reigned here. But now they are one 
with us, in the same holy faith, and the same great hopes for 
eternity. They have among them those who know how to 
chant the same solemn canticles of the church in honor of the 
same Lord and Saviour. Welcome, dear brothers of the 
Konochioni ! Your fathers were once our most dangerous foes. 
We hail you now as among our dearest friends! Welcome to 
our city; welcome to our church. That faithful martyr, Isaac 
Jogues, is father to you and father to us. Young Rene 
Goupil, whose undiscovered body still lies in the bed of the 
torrent at the foot of the hill of Ossernenon, is brother to us 
all, and Catherine Tegakwita, the sweet Lily of the Mohawks, 
is our little sister. 

What unaccustomed faces are these that occupy this morn- 
ing so many of our front pews? They are something more 
than fellow citizens. They are the civil authorities of our 
city. They have come here on this Bi-Centennial Sunday to 
recognize God and honor religion. They have come here ex- 
pressly and publicly to acknowledge that all authority upon 
earth rests upon the higher authority of Heaven, and that 
Albany, ancient Albany, is a religious and Christian city. 
They, too, are heartily welcome. And who are these that we 
have seen standing in our midst in military attire, with their 
arms in their hands, and helmeted like soldiers ready for 
action^ They, together with the chiefs and patrolmen of the 
police represent law, order and obedience to duty; and, that 
the truest love of country is that which has its source in the 
love of God, They, too, are welcome. And now let us turn 
bur thoughts directly to the altar. It represents to us the 
authority of God, the claims of God, God's protection, God's 
love, God's mercy, the foundation of all our hopes in God. 
O may the dear Son of God, who shed His blood for us upon 
the cross, give His blessing now to our beloved country; to 
the State of New York, to the city of Albany, to the parish 
of St. Mary's; inflame our hearts with the deepest gratitude 
for His past favors and with well-founded hopes of His future 
protection and of final salvation. 



A Citizen of Ko Mean City. 303 

At the conclusion of the mass Father Walworth 
announced that the Te Deitm would be sung in Eng- 
lish in thanksgiving for the blessings bestowed 
on the city during its two hundred years of existence. 
He stood on the platform of the altar and in a com- 
manding tone with a telling gesture, he lifted both 
arms as he said : '' In token of your gratitude to God 
during the singing of this hymn, let all stand, and all 
sing." The grand old bymn sung by the entire 
multitude rang through the building in loudest tones, 
led by the organ and orchestra. The multitude 
then withdrew and Albany's first military mass was 
over. 

The Bi-Centennial celebration throughout the en- 
tire week in its many manifestations, as in its 
opening hours just depicted, was a very successful 
municipal event w^ell worth the study of less ancient 
cities and towns. It stimulated public spirit and 
the study of local history as well as a wholesome 
love of God, home and country. The public asking 
of Heaven's blessing on the city by each and all 
Christian denominations, and the sublime chanting 
of Thanksgiving anthems on Simday for two hun- 
dred years of civic rights and privileges, doubtless 
had its effect through the entire week. The ribaldry 
and debauchery that have marred other municipal 
celebrations, here and there, that were less wisely 
planned and conducted were on this occasion held 
in check by a prevailing sentiment of cheerful grati- 
tude and honest pride. 

Only a few notable results of the celebration can 
Lere be touched upon. One was the marking with 
bronze tablets of so many historic sites about the 



304 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

city that little was left to be done in that way by 
the numerous patriotic societies that sprang into ex- 
istence toward the close of the nineteenth century. 
Another result was the growth and equipment of the 
Albany Historical and Art Society. Another was a 
remarkable Historical Pageant at Harmanus 
Bleecker Hall during the week beginning December 
3, 1894, in which the whole city participated 
and lived over again, in costume, by means of living 
pictures, its long and eventful history. The Rev. 
W. W. Battershall, D. D., has well described it in 
these few words: '' It was a unique entertainment in 
its most characteristic features, the tableaux from 
local colonial history, possible only in this ancient 
town." The profits of it went to the Historical and 
Art Society. Even the printed program of this 
pageant entitled '' The History of Albany in Ten 
Acts," from the press of the Brandow Printing Com- 
pany, 1894, is a pamphlet well worth preserving for 
its historic data and the thoughts suggested by the 
very grouping of its lists of citizens. 

If Father Walworth was interested in Albany's 
history, how much more so in her moral welfare I 
If the proper observance of Bi-Centennial Sunday 
was near to his heart, so was the observance of every 
other Sunday. We have become familiar with his 
strivings against the encroachments of liquor dealers 
in their money-making efforts to do away with the 
rest and peace of the law-abiding American Simday 
bequeathed to us with our liberties. It is, indeed, a 
ffolden inheritance closelv linked with '^ The Golden 
Rule " that lies at the foundation of our political 
constitution. Thoughtful citizens who study the 



A CiTizEJs^ OF 1^0 Mean City. 305 

times very generally agree that even the worst of the 
narrow old provincial '^ blue laws/' so often laughed 
at, were less of a menace to the white light of free- 
dom than the new '^ red flags '' and rags of anarchy 
that flaunt in the breezes of to-day. To give undue 
prominence to either of these fiercely painted errors 
is to read our flag backward and turn into jargon the 
beautiful meaning of our motto : ^' E Plurihus 

One day Father Walworth was looking from his 
window at the corner of Steuben and Chapel streets. 
It was Sunday morning. Crowds from the 7 and 8 
o'clock Masses had scattered as usual to their homes, 
and the tide of approaching footsteps had not yet set 
in toward the open doorway of St. Mary's for the 
High Mass, with its sermon. 

For the first time in the history of that locality 
he saw a bevy of workmen with overalls and tools 
ripping up the main pavement of the street and lay- 
ing out work for a day's job. Enough had already 
been done to show that the Catholics among them had 
no time for Mass before donning their work-a-day 
clothes. The scandal they would give to others, old 
and young, who would soon pass them stirred the 
pastor to instant and observant activity. Others in 
the room were called to the window and questioned 
to make sure of what was going on. As a lawyer, 
dulv admitted to the Bar, he knew the ordinances of 
the city and State. His family motto was : " Strike 
for the Laws." 

His duty as priest and citizen was clear to his 
mind, as clear as the broad light of day in which the 
unwelcome scene occurred. 



306 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

'^ Come, my amanuensis/' said he, " there is not a 
moment to lose. This can be and it shall be stopped. 
I know the Mayor and he knows the Law. He will 
not stand for this before the people of Albany. I 
will send him a note." We mounted a flight of stairs 
and seated ourselves, he in his brown wicker rock- 
ing chair and I at my leather-top table, pen in hand. 

^^ Write, scrivener, write," said he sharply, adding 
a few courteous opening words, slowly and distinctly 
uttered. In less time than it can be recorded here, 
that note was sent on its way to Mayor Thacher's 
door in Hawk street. For Albanians, it is needless 
to write that the police were at once notified by that 
public-spirited gentleman to enforce the law against 
work on the Lord's Day. As St. Mary's congrega- 
tion issued from the late Mass, they found Steuben 
street quiet and peaceful as usual on Sundays. All 
click of tool and thud of stone was hushed. The for- 
lorn, the shame-faced or hard-featured toilers who 
had set to work in the interest of a strong cor- 
poration had vanished like a dream of the night- 
time. In this, our land of liberty, is not an ounce 
of prevention still worth a pound of cure ? Where 
Church and State can stand separate and thus clasp 
hands, the makers of mischief must needs dodge. 
Long live all such Mayors, and such Pastors ! 

That the above was not a solitary instance of 
mutual action to uphold the moral welfare of the 
community is evidenced by the following lines se- 
lected from a file of correspondence for 1896 : 



A Citizen of ^o Mean City. 307 

Mayor Thacher to Rev. C. A. Walworth: 

5 South Hawk St., Albany, N. Y. 

Dear Father Walworth — The workmen have been 
stopped on State street. It seems that the railroad got per- 
Hiission yesterday from the Street Commissioner. 

I trust this will not occur again and I thank you for call- 
ing my attention to it. 

Yours, 

JOHN BOYD THACHER. 
April 12, 1896. 

It has not been deemed necessary to ask permission 
to insert these few lines, so creditable alike to the 
writer and the recipient. 

No question that concerned the welfare of his fel- 
low citzens was indifferent to Father Walworth. He 
made his opinion felt on such subjects of municipal 
concern as the location of parks, boulevards, the pub- 
lic market, rapid transit and the choosing of pub- 
lic speakers. He argued, too, in matters of State 
concern, such as the protection of the Adirondack 
Forest Preserve, suitable enactments for Indian 
Reservations and the Limitation of Suffrage. He ad- 
dressed, on the last-named subject, the Suffrage Com- 
mittee of the Constitutional Convention on July 10, 
1894, at 4 p. M., in the Assembly Parlor. Those 
interested to follow his thoughtful argument at that 
time and place, made in the hope of checking the 
ever increasing flood of undesirable immigration, 
will find it in the files of the Albany Sunday Pres^, 
under date of July 15, 1894. A very excellent re- 
port of it is there given, entitled, " MUCH PLAII^ 
TRUTHS; Limitation of Voting in E'ew York 
by Constitutional Amendment; Immigration and 
!N'atur alization. " 



308 Life Sketches of Father Waewoeth. 

The previous extracts from other local papers have 
shown how well and effectively Father Walworth 
knew how to stand np for his rights as an American 
citizen and so, to teach others, by example, the same 
lesson. He visited, in person, a number of his 
neighbors and obtained their signatures to other pro- 
tests and petitions besides the ones given, to which 
action he was prompt to add timely and vigorous 
words from his pulpit. The extracts themselves 
sufficiently explain their occasion, and the quiet that 
still holds sway near the old church is the result of 
his alertness when danger threatened in 1889. 

On the 24:th of May, 1891, an earnest remonstrance 
was read from the pulpit of St. Mary's; this 
time, against the laying of tracks on Pine and 
Chapel streets. It was signed by the property-owners 
on those streets and was duly put on record, " to pre- 
vent any such surprises as attended the action of the 
Common Council in regard to the Steuben street 
tracks. '^ The old church had too many friends in 
Albany, as was well proved at that time by her ener- 
getic pastor, to make it worth while to attempt any 
further laying of railway tracks to the damage of her 
seclusion or the peace of religious worship in her 
neighborhood. 

It was before this last episode and not long after 
the great Bi-Centennial Celebration that Father 
Walworth received a large envelope from Washington 
marked '^ Executive Mansion " and stamped with, the 
seal of the President on red wax. Within was a 
thanksgiving proclamation in the handwriting of 
Grover Cleveland, the ona he had written for that 
same year, 1886. It came as a friendly souvenir 



A Citizen of ISTo Mean City. 309 

from a successful statesman to a thoughtful citizen, 
and it betokened that he had not forgotten helpful 
intercourse with him in former days. 

Father Walworth's views on public questions had 
interested Mr. Cleveland more than once whilst he 
was occupying the Governor's chair at Albany. It 
was his own autogTaphic copy of the document with 
which he so pleasantly surprised him on this occa- 
sion. As a graceful compliment to patriotism and 
public spirit in a clergyman, it was surely well 
chosen. It was thus worded : 

A PROCLAMATION 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

It lias long been the custom of the people of the United 
States, on a day in each year especially set apart for that 
purpose by their Chief Executive, to acknowledge the goodness 
and mercy of God and to invoke his continued care and pro- 
tection. 

In observance of which custom I, Crover Cleveland, Presi- 
dent of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart 
Thursday, the 25th day of November instant, to be observed 
and kept as a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer. 

On that day let all our people forego their accustomed em- 
ployments, and assemble in their usual places of worship to 
give thanks to the Ruler of the Universe for our continued 
enjoyment of the blessings of a free government, for a renewal 
of business prosperity throughout our Land, for the return 
which has rewarded the labor of those who till the soil, and 
for our progi'ess as a people in all that makes a Nation great. 

And while we contemplate the infinite power of God in 
earthquake, flood and storm, let the grateful hearts of those 
who have been shielded from harm through His mercy be turned 
in sympathy and kindness toward those who have suffered 
through His visitations. 

Let us also in the midst of our thanksgiving remember the 
poor and needy with cheerful gifts and alms, so that our 



310 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

service may, by deeds of charity, be made acceptable in the 
sight of the Lord. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and 
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington this First day of November, 
in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and 
eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of 
America, the one hundred and eleventh. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 
By the President. 

T. F. Bayard, 

Secretary of State. 



XIV. 

NEARLY BLIND. 

Hjrmns and Meditations — ^Evenings with his Nieces — 
Authorship — Scott, Cooper, and the Gene- 
alogy — Sunset of a Busy Life — His 
" Cloister of the Senses." 

Threescore years and ten had passed over Father 
Walworth's head. The afternoon sun was declining. 
Could there be work still ahead ? Was there a lesson 
of endurance still to be learned ? Yes ; three of his 
books were yet to be dictated, corrected and pub- 
lished; many wise and witty words still to be ut- 
tered; many gentle deeds of charity still to be done. 
God was preparing for him a cloister of the senses, 
in which to draw yet closer to Him. This man of 
many thoughts and much vigor was to be penned 
within narrow bounds. Little by little, the great 
world of action must slip from him. And then, 
after a long night of privation and pain, his soul, 
freed at last, would itself slip quietly from all earthly 
moorings. On the wings of the morning, in the 
silent dawn of Light Eternal, it would speed swiftly 
away to its long-sought haven. 

What more endearing than to say: ^^ I have loved 
thee as the apple of my eye ! " Did not the Re- 
deemer of men thus love this chosen one who had 
spent half a century in winning souls to His service 
in a thousand different Avays ? And now for awhile 



312 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

He would draw a curtain over his outward sight, He 
would turn the ever-leaping thoughts of His priest 
inward to contemplation, as never before. The fruit- 
ful intellect hampered by impaired Vision would 
soon find new vents through rhythmic meditations, 
new tasks begotten of its own far distant recollections, 
and even new circles of intercourse with living men. 
These last proved to be wider than all bounds of 
neighborhood; they reached far as the mails would 
carry, far as the printed page could drift, Happy 
were the eyes and the hands of the amanuensis des- 
tined to the service of such thoughts as his ! If to 
be with him was to live almost the life of a hermit 
as to social gatherings, it was none the less to share a 
hermitage high on the cliifs of human aspiration. It 
was to live close to the nest of the liberty-loving 
eagle, close to the rainbow of hope, close to the silent 
stars, ^^ forget-me-nots of the angels." It was to 
share the breathings of a soul like unto the snow- 
white peak of the Yung-F'rau in its sublimity. Last, 
but not least, it meant an abode ever close to the 
golden door of the altar where lies hidden the manna 
of souls, the thorn-crowned Prisoner of the Euchar- 
ist. " How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of 
Hosts ! " 

Ten years at the beck and call of God's priest 
were not too much in the light of surging memories 
that come back. When time, with his gentle but 
persistent touch, has brushed away countless hum- 
drum details, we are better able to reckon the true 
values of our days. Who can see in its right pro- 
portions the mountain just quitted ? A certain dis- 
tance must intervene to bring out once more a clear- 



]N^E.iRLY Blind. 313 

cut profile. Thus the writer of these lines, like a 
traveler who has reached the level country, but 
wishes to bear away deep-graven memories of a 
mountain trip, pauses, turns and looks backward. 
A towering summit shows its peak against the sky. 
A few hasty strokes serve to sketch it in lovingly, 
boldly. Thus will the last decade of a lofty life, 
the one she was fortunate enough to share as a fire- 
side companion in the very household of Father Wal- 
worth, be briefly outlined before our ways divide. 
For, indeed, as the greatest of dramas are ever trag- 
edies, and all human life ends in death, the author 
and reader of these pages, if in company just a little 
longer, will have to part beside a quiet grave, just 
one of many, many, that are tapped lightly in turn 
by the raindrops and pine needles, snowflakes and 
blossoms. 

In 1890 Father Walworth bought a dwelling, 
number 38 Steuben street, adjoining the rectory of 
St. Mary's Church. He had long kept in view such 
a purchase, principally to secure that sacred edifice 
against the possibility of undesirable neighbors. He 
invested in it some of his own means, taking care, 
however, to w^ill it to the church as a gift from the 
pastor. To this dwelling he invited three of his rela- 
tives. These were his niece Ellen, who became at 
that time his amanuensis, a grandniece not yet of 
school age, and her widowed mother, a lady of quiet, 
refined tastes and a retiring disposition. These, 
with their maid, formed a little household with 
which he spent more and more of his time as in- 
creasing blindness narrowed the circle of his activi- 
ties. A door cut for the purpose afforded access to 



314 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

this houseliold from the rectory, number 41 Chape] 
street, which was then a single house, just the width 
of one large room and a hall. Both houses have 
since been much altered and made into one large 
rectory. At that time, however, there was no com- 
municating door on the principal floor. The one 
that was opened in 1890 was on the second floor op- 
posite that of the Pastor's o^vn room. His vener- 
able housekeeper continued until the time of her 
death to preside over the domestic arrangements at 
the rectory, serving the clergy with discretion and 
zeal in sickness and in health. It was in the sitting- 
room of his niece Ellen, just opposite his own special 
theological " sanctum,'' that Father Walworth spent 
henceforth most of the morning hours in literary pur- 
suits, whether pastoral or general. His theological 
books, now at the Catholic University of America, 
often crossed the rectory hall in those days to be 
replaced on their self-same shelves after each sitting. 
The home of his nieces was, otherwise, kept quite 
distinct from that of the clergy, in accordance with 
his explicit direction as to arrangements. He him- 
self, however, shared the interests of both house- 
holds, enlivening sometimes one and sometimes the 
other with his resistless torrent of anecdote, whilst 
he controlled both with his dominant personality. 
Seven placid years glided on in this way, his pastoral 
cares gradually lightened, meanwhile, by the zealous 
labors of the vice-rector and each of the curates who 
became, in turn, inmates of the old rectory. 

He had one acute sorrow during this time. 
The day came when he could no longer say Mass. 
His consecrated hand, after clasping the chalice daily 



!^EAELY Blind. 315 

in the Holy Mass for the space of forty years, had 
gathered up his pen just as his eyesight was growing 
dim, to write the following lines. They are from 
page 124 of ^^Andiatorocte/' his volume of poems, 
hymns and meditations in verse. Let us read them 
in this connection and see if the same strong, sweet 
bells of thought do not ring through these verses as 
through that letter he wrote to his father on July 21, 
1845. Comparing the two we find at once the key- 
note of his apostolic career. 

THE PRIESTLY ROBE. 

I. 

Touch it lightly, or not at all, 

Let it not fall! 

Let not a fabric so august 

Trail in the dust! 

'Tis a costly thing, 

Woven by love in suffering. 

'Twas Jesus' parting gift to men. 

When the Lord rose to Heaven again, 

His latest breathing fell on it, 

And left a sacred spell on it. 

A mystery hides within its folds. 

Quickened by sacramental breath, 

It holds 

The power of life and death. 

Would you sully it? Would you rend it? 

Is there a Christian would not defend it — 

A robe so costly, and so rare. 

So wonderfully fair? 

Woe to the hand profane, 

Woe to the heart ungracious, 

Woe to the tongue unheeding. 

Would dare to cast a stain 

On a vestment made so precious 

By such costly bleeding! 



316 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

11. 

I know this robe and its history, 

And what strange virtue goeth forth 

From its hem to bless the earth; 

And I adore the mystery 

That gives it grace. 

In Jesus' name, to soothe and heal. 

With more than human tenderness 

I prize the priestly order; 

And while with reverent knee I kneel, 

I do not see beneath the border 

Frail feet of clay, 

But seek to find, if so I may. 

By feeling, 

Some gracious thread which will convey 

To my sore spirit healing. 

Vicars of Christ! Deem me not rude, 

If nearer than is wont I press me; 

But turn, and bless me 

Amid the kneeling multitude. 

• 

In tliis last line he places himself, priest though 
he be, not at the altar, but down among the laity, 
not as if giving but rather receiving on his knees, 
from the celebrant, the Holy Communion and 
priestly benediction. It contains both pathos and 
prophecy when one understands that whilst he wrote 
it the light of day was slowly stealing away from 
him. His eyesight did not give out so completely 
but that Father Walworth could '^ see his way 
about," at least to some extent. But SiVe years be- 
fore his death it already failed to show him the 
words of his missal, printed specially for him in 
large capital letters half an inch high; nor did it 
suffice to guide his hand, becoming tremulous too 
with old age, in touching and moving the chalice. 



j^EARLY Blind. 317 

One morning, on a week-day in Lent, shortly after 
pronouncing the well-known words of the Gospel 
and Creed, he turned to his faithful flock, gathered 
in the basement chapel of St. Mary's, to say : '*' I am 
sorry, my good people, that I cannot see to finish 
the Holy Mass. I beg that you will pray for me." 
Then calmly and patiently he went to the vestry and 
took off his chasuble for the last time. Coming for- 
ward soon after to the priedieu, where he usually 
made his thanksgiving after Mass, he there remained 
absorbed in prayer, with his face buried in his hands, 
during the Mass of his assistant priest. Thenceforth 
he habitually knelt at a priedieu, within or near the 
sanctuary, whether in the basement chapel or upper 
church, every day and Sunday too, during the 7 
o'clock Mass, almost without interruption for five 
years ; that is to say, u.p to the time of his last illness. 
The altar boys became accustomed to hand him the 
communion-card and the officiating priest gave him 
communion as he passed to the altar rail, ciborium 
in hand. Then once more at the altar he would 
turn, as is usual, to give the final benedicticn; and 
thus he often blessed the aged pastor, as the poem 
says, — 

"Amid the kneeling multitude." 
When he could no longer say Mass, Father Wal- 
worth was not debarred from hearing confessions, 
and when he became too deaf for that, he could still 
instruct converts and preach some memorable ser- 
mons. As the physical powers waned and the eigh- 
tieth year milestone came in sight, his apostolic en- 
ergy found vent in literature that kept constantly 
busy the hand of his amanuensis. He carried on 



318 Life Sketches of Father Walwoeth. 

to the very end, in a way of his owtl, what some 
have called the apostolate of the press. Father Wal- 
worth found that when he announced to his congre- 
gation that he would preach at a certain Mass on a 
certain subject — generally some crying evil of the 
day — and asked them to make a special effort to 
be present, they not only came, but other citizens 
came, and the reporters of the local newspapers were 
also sure to be there. He sometimes found fault 
with these last for garbling his sermons, so they 
asked him if he would not furnish them with copy — 
some of his notes. 

As amanuensis, I can testify that the notes of his 
later sermons were very brief; they seldom covered 
tw^o pages, though the Scripture text was there in 
full ; many volumes had been consulted ; and the 
whole subject was always carefully blocked out from 
exordium to peroration. 

When he had some great reform at heart he was 
not a man to let go his chance to reach the people, 
not only of Albany but, as far as possible, of all 
America. At such times he would write out a full 
sermon carefully and in advance to be given to the 
reporters. But in immediate preparation for the 
pulpit he never looked at it. He glanced, instead, 
at the brief notes which lay, as usual, under the 
paper-weight on his library table. He preached 
thoughts to the people rather than words, and if the 
thoughts wore different w^ords in the pulpit from 
those he had put on the paper, it did not concern 
him. But when his thought itself w^as butchered in 
print he pursued the unhappy reporter to a final 
confusion of repentance. When his sermon on a 



INeakly Blind. 319 

subject of more than local interest was well reported 
he secured from twenty to a hundred or more copies 
and gathered as many walling hands as possible, on 
short notice, to mark, wrap and carefully address 
them, keeping always a list of those to whom they 
were mailed. Some of these lists were made up 
largely of temperance advocates in different States, 
others of archbishops, others again of Congressmen 
or State legislators, personal friends and mere ac- 
quaintances, or known to him only through the 
medium of books and the daily press. But each 
name was carefully weighed and no pains counted 
too great to secure the right address, all with a view 
to projecting his matured thought onward and get- 
ting it into action for the good of human souls. In 
many ways he succeeded, and thoughts of his are still 
bearing fruit in useful lives. 

'^ The Reminiscences of Bishop Wadhams " and 
" The Oxford Movement in America " were com- 
pleted and issued in book form. His third set of 
memoirs was under way, dealing with "A Catholic 
Crisis in England,'' and showing Cardinal Wise- 
man's part therein. " The Walworths of America," 
a history and genealogy, begun long since and con- 
tinued at odd times, was meanwhile surging over 
the tables and desks of the sitting-room like the re- 
sistless waves King Canute endeavored to sweep 
back. The little grandniece was by this time off 
at boarding-school, climbing the long hill of educa- 
tion at a convent of the Sacred Heart, in the same 
house where a cloistered aunt of hers was already 
dwelling, happy in her seclusion. 

Then it was that the clouds began to lower and 



320 Life Sketches of Fathek Wal worth. 

the once powerful intellect to shudder and strain and 
start again with rapid pace, like a ship entering a 
long reach of angry sea. When all other ways of 
concentrating thought and prayer were made dif- 
ficult by infirmities, except his beloved rosary, the 
venerable priest would still find food for meditation 
in the familiar words of hymns. Lest he should for- 
get their sequence, however, stanzas of Latin verse 
by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bernard, or of Eng- 
lish verse by Faber and others, on broad sheets of 
paper, were written in very large black letters, and 
were held by a paper-weight on the table before his 
windows. These verses were conned by him whilst 
dressing, to be expanded into meditations half an 
hour later, during his thanksgiving after com- 
munion. He was too blind to say Mass, too deaf to 
hear confessions, and after each sermon, that filled 
the great church with his clarion voice, still full of 
sweetness and power, he now suffered for two days 
at least with nervous exhaustion. As his turn came 
round he began to fear lest his memory, so marvelous 
and richly freighted, should some day play him 
false, lest the fine-woven thread of his discourse 
might snap and he be forced to leave unfinished a 
sermon, as blindness had already forced him to leave 
incomplete his last Holy Mass. But this never hap- 
pened. He did not let it happen. He foresaw its 
coming in good season to quit. He gave up his cus- 
tom of preaching every third Sunday at St. Mary's ; 
but about that time he appeared twice in the Cathe- 
dral pulpit at funerals, and on both occasions he 
showed much of his old power. On one of these 
occasions he spoke the eulogy of his friend, Mr. Wil- 



!N'early Blind. 321 

Ham Morange, already mentioned as a coimselor-at- 
law and the ^' poet-laureate of Albany," a gentle, 
lovable man for whom the orphans of the asylum 
mourned as for their own. On the other occasion 
he described his intercourse with James Hall, a hero 
of science, and for over fifty years geologist of 'New 
York State. The announcement of the obsequies of 
this last-named friend of Father Walworth filled 
the beautiful Cathedral of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion with a notable gathering, including scientists 
of many creeds and of none. But not one indif- 
ferent listener could be singled out in all the sea 
of faces that looked up at the noble countenance of 
the preacher. He could no longer catch the answer- 
ing gleams of intelligence that awoke in answer 
to his uttered thought, and so kindle with renewed 
fire his own eloquence. The sermon was quiet, 
thoughtful, descriptive, narrative. Perhaps, how- 
ever, for such an audience, it thrilled the more, be- 
ing spoken from his '^ cloister of the senses,'' for 
such he himself was wont to term his increasing 
deprivation of sight and hearing. 

Now, his voice would no longer be taxed to fill 
a great church. Even the conferences to his Chil- 
dren of Mary, previously described, were coming to 
an end. The changes of temperature in passing 
from house to chapel had proved too great for an 
invalid. So, too, must cease, little by little, his in- 
structive conversations with his curates, those of the 
present and the past, who loved to share with him 
their leisure moments ; and, the happy evenings spent 
with his nieces, when he often reverted to the long- 
loved tales of 'Scott and Cooper. These had been 



322 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

frequently reread aloud to him, and even through 
an ear-trumpet, to the animated accompaniment of 
his own inimitable commentary. In his estima- 
tion their works were too valuable ever to be out of 
date. His older edition of Sir Walter Scott's works 
held many manuscript maps which he had drawn 
on the fly-leaves to make plain the scenes of the 
stories. When in Scotland he could even direct 
Scotchmen how to find them. Subscriptions to the 
magazines that had strewn his tables, the Atlantic 
Monthly^ the North American Review, Scrihuers, 
all, in fact, but the Catholic World magazine, to 
which he was still a contributor, as well as the publi- 
cations of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, were allowed to lapse. The cur- 
rent literature from the Young Men's Association 
library ceased now to interest him as thought stimu- 
lus, either to be enjoyed or criticised. Like a vessel 
homeward bound from the open sea he was gliding 
inward from all the mighty currents of human activ- 
ity toward the quiet harbor lights. 

He had laid aside some essays which he dictated 
on the relations of science and religion, entitled 
^' The Philosophy of the Supernatural," because the 
theological points involved required a series of foot- 
notes too deep and intricate to be supplied by the 
aid of a lay amanuensis. These he was never able 
to complete. 

He had already gathered up a part of his rhythmic 
meditations, written out by his own hand a decade 
earlier, and put them into a volume entitled "Andia- 
torocte; or. The Eve of Lady Day on Lake George, 



[N^EAELY Blind. 323 

and Other Poems, Hymns and Meditations in 
Verse." * His last book, '' The Walworths of 
America," was published in 1897. 

That year, 1897, was notable in more ways than 
one. During its course there came to the aged 
pastor the cheering glow of a gorgeous sunset. There 
came, in the waning of summertime, a great day, 
when St. Mary's parish celebrated its centennial. 
The magnificence of this event was due to the energy 
of the vice-rector. Rev. J. J. Dillon. Father Wal- 
worth w^as happy in receiving under his roof at that 
time the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Martinelli, 
a most worthy ambassador of the noble pontiff, 
Leo XIII. It was an added pleasure for him to 
entertain at the same time the distinguished pulpit 
orator chosen for this interesting occasion, who was 
already known to him. Rev. Father Van Rensse- 
laer, S. J. The gorgeous robes of the former, as 
he moved slowly across the sanctuary of the historic 
church, followed by the train-bearers of Rt. Rev. 
T. M. A. Burke, happily ruling as fourth Bishop of 
Albany, and who also graced the occasion by his 
presence, with many other dignitaries, gave bril- 
liancy of coloring to a scene of indescribable beauty. 
The newly frescoed interior and beautiful arches 
of the church, lit up as never before, with electric 
lis'ht, the happy congregation, the magnificent music, 
all contributed to the effect. Some, at least, of this 



* This book, " Andiatorocte," published by G. P. Putnam's Sons 
— The Knickerbocker Press — 1888, was later put into the hands 
of The Catholic Book Exchange at the publishing office of the 
Paulist Fathers in New York city, the same whence issued in 
1895, his " Oxford Movement in America." " The Walworths of 
America," his genealogical book, was published (1897) by " The 
Weed-Parsons Printing Company," of Albany. 



324 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

resplendent glory percolated through the bedimmed 
senses of the pastor and made his heart bound with 
joyful gratitude. Tall and dark, amid this dazzling 
brightness, stood the Jesuit, in dear old St. Mary's 
oaken pulpit. He stood there in the hey-day of 
manly beauty, a lineal descendant of the first Albany 
Patroon, and all the while a crucifix glimmered 
at his girdle. He was every inch a blackgown, a 
devoted missionary, a loyal son of Loyola, and so, 
too, was the one of whom he spoke, Isaac Jogues, 
discoverer of Lake George, friend of Megapolensis at 
Fort Orange and martyr of the Mohawk mission. 
Who could say that Father Van Rensselaer was not 
the right man in the right place for that occasion? 
The vigor and the graces of a noble orator were his. 
However much or little Father Walworth saw or 
heard of it all, he was yet happy on that memorable 
day in his " cloister of the senses." 



XV. 

IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. 

The Chanting of a Hundred Priests — A Memorial 

Meeting of Fellow-Citizens — Three Monuments 

to Father Walworth's Memory — Conclusion. 

To have walked side by side with a priest of God 
through the ever-darkening " valley of the shadow of 
death " ; to have shuddered and grown wan at the 
sight of the terrible sufferings of a beloved and ven- 
erated companion, afflictions in body, in mind and in 
soul; to have passed out alone from weird, dusky 
recesses of hallowed pain, and then to have wandered 
desolate over the grim desert of bereavement that 
must ever divide such a death chamber from the 
usual haunts of men; this, indeed, was a wondrous 
and thrilling experience. 

To turn one's thoughts back upon it suddenly is to 
shrink instinctively as from a plunge into clear, 
frosty water. I^or, having once re-entered it in 
imagination, is it easy to determine just how much 
of the experience of those last three years belong 
to this series of biogTaphical sketches, nor how 
much should remain locked within the souls of 
a few privileged ones of his twofold home. These 
were the household companions who, with his 
friend and physician. Dr. P. J. Keegan, wit- 
nessed the gTadual encloistering of a soul by 
act of God and the eilent passing from earth 
of Clarence Walworth. To them it was proved in 



326 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

a mysterious and marvelous way how " Power is 
made perfect in infirmity." The main outward 
facts, however, of his last acute illness should be here 
recorded. Let us begin then, at once, their narra- 
tion, with but two introductory incidents. 

On the 15th day of October in the year 1899, 
Father Walworth was too feeble to rise from hi3> 
bed. He called me to his side and asked if I re- 
membered whose feast occurred on that day. A mo- 
ment's thought brought it to mind. It was St. 
Teresa's day. His face brightened at mention of the 
sweet Carmelite's name. He reminded me that it 
was the anniversary of his taking of the vows in the 
congregation of St. Alphonsus. From these vows, 
it will be remembered he was dispensed by Pope Pius 
IX. I already knew that far from regretting that 
momentous step upward from the novitiate, he 
cherished its anniversary as one of the happiest days 
of the year. Our conversation soon drifted to a 
mention of his cloistered niece, Clara Teresa, Re- 
ligious of the Sacred Heart, and he once more ex- 
pressed gratification at her evident happiness in the 
community life. He was her godfather and had 
placed her at baptism, under the patronage of Saint 
Teresa. 

A few days later Father Walworth was up and 
about as usual. He continued to send on copy to 
The Catholic World under the title of " Remi- 
niscences of a Catholic Crisis in England Fifty 
Years Ago." ^ot long before the holidays he 
gave final correction to the proof sheets for the con- 
cluding chapter. It has already been referred to as 
describing his long, stormy voyage from England to 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 327 

America, Father Bernard's I^ovena to St. Joseph 
with the captain's comments thereon, and the happy 
arrival at the port of l^ew York on St. Joseph's 
Day, 1851. That last chapter of his closes with 
these words : 

" A kind farewell to all our readers. We never 
know when we shall be separated from the public. 
We ask, therefore, the prayers of all who know us, 
beginning with the present moment." 

They are to be found in The Catholic World 
for January, 1900, and were indeed the last of his 
printed words, appearing just two weeks before he 
was stricken with paralysis. 

When the first l^ew Year's Day of this twen- 
tieth century arrived, he remembered his old cook, 
Margaret, then an invalid cared for at the home of 
her nieces near the Austin Mansion on Cathedral 
Hill. His last long walk was to that neighborhood 
to call and inquire for her. Before leaving, he as- 
sured her of the continuance of her allowance, the 
amount of her usual monthly wages, and placed in 
her palm, a five dollar gold piece, his accustomed 
holiday remembrance to household employees. On 
the following days he worked hard and fast both at 
writing and at tinkering. He was, for an amateur 
mechanic, quite expert in the use of carpenter's tools, 
and often mended small breakages about the house. 
It was a special hobby of his to whittle wooden pegs 
with which to keep the window casements from 
rattling, and to shape other small, handy articles 
from wood. 

On January 15, 1900, he again remained in bed. 
He had been to Mass and communion the day 



328 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

before, but shortly afterward he fell asleep in 
his chair. Later that same day he dictated a letter 
and some memoranda. After supper he conversed 
with his amanuensis, retiring at his usual hour. But 
on this midwinter day he did not rise. His break- 
fast was brought up to him. When his attendant, 
" Lem/' had shoveled the snow from the sidewalks 
and appeared in the room, he asked him for his pen- 
knife and some pieces of wood partly shaped. He 
was still intent upon the whittling, his back propped 
up with pillows, when I entered, bearing in my hand 
the morning mail. Without giving me time even to 
open the envelopes and name to him the signatures 
to his letters, he said eagerly : " I am so glad you 
have come. I want you to write down something I 
had in mind during the night. Get your writing 
paper and sit here by the bed." " Lem '' gathered 
up the debris of the last task as quietly and promptly 
as " Libbie '' had removed the dishes. We were left 
to ourselves. I then took up pad and pencil and 
seated myself in a low chair. His eyes were brighter 
than usual and clearer. Varying conditions of 
the nerve of sight in his one serviceable eye had 
their effect upon his power of vision. A person 
unfamiliar with these might sometimes have been 
tempted to think he was ^^ playing possum," as the 
children say, when he really was not. On this par- 
ticular morning his sight was evidently at its best. 
" Have you a pen ? " ^^ 'No, Uncle. It is a pencil." 
" That will not do," he said. " Get a table and pen 
and ink. I want this in ink so it will last and be 
easy to read. It is for reference afterward." 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 329 

When all was as he wished, he continued : " ISTow 
write the title, and be sure to leave plenty of margin. 
Let me see ! " And taking the large pad from me 
he measured off against it with his thumb an extra 
wide margin saying: " There! rule it there. Under- 
score the title and then make another mark, a plain 
one, to separate it from the text which is to come 
later. :NTow, for the title, write : DE TKIlv^ITATE." 

I wrote these two words as they came from his 
lips, — clear, distinct, emphatic. Then I held the 
paper up close to him so he might observe the heavy, 
black stroke that was under them. He nodded 
his head in approval. Then he drew himself up as 
straight as he could against the pillows. His eyes 
gleamed with intense thought and his whole counte- 
nance, bright with his theme, showed a powerful will 
gathering its energies together with an effort to 
utter some concept of the mind that was difficult to 
put into simple words. 

A part of the charm of his oratory was in watch- 
ing the expressive play of thought over his face just 
before his most thrilling sentences reached the ear. 
An atmosphere of expectation was created that drew 
and fixed the attention. 

I fnlly expected to hear some such words at that 
moment. What then was my surprise and distress, 
after an almost breathless pause to hear him utter 
with great effort, in loud tones, a sound that may be 
written thus : '' Pomma-lom-alom-alomolomini/" 

His own ears partially awakened from their deaf- 
ness by the rapt alertness of his nerves must also 
have caught that uncanny sound. His expression in- 
stantly changed to one of agony. He grasped his 



330 Life Sketches of Fatiiee Walworth. 

throat with one hand and bent forward^ leaning on 
the other, in a second effort to articulate the words 
expressive of his thought. The same jargon br-V]- 
again from his lips. He closed his eyelids and sank 
down among his pillows, his arms lying like one in 
a swoon. Before I could move or call help, — it was 
a condition to the treatment of which I had not the 
slightest clew, — I saw him open his eyes wide and 
heard him murmur distinctly in tones of surprise 
and distress : " Lost — my — speech'' Then quicker 
than I can write it, he faced toward his bronze cru- 
cifix that hung against the wall, the one Pius IX had 
blessed when I knelt at my Uncle's side in RaphaeFs 
Loggia. He seemed for an instant in deep prayer, 
and then a look of calmness and peace settled over 
his features, as he lay without otherwise changing 
his posture, — limp, motionless, exhausted. 

^^ That was an act of perfect resignation," I said 
to myself, as I rose to summon the doctor. 

It seemed in my anxious search as if both houses 
had become tenantless, save for the presence of my- 
self and the patient. But Father Dillon was soon 
found at his desk. He hastened to the bedside re- 
maining there quiet and observant. Dr. Keegan en- 
tered the room a little later. At the familiar touch 
of his hand, the patient rallied. Before he left the 
sickroom several sentences were uttered without effort 
by Father Walworth, and it seemed almost as if the 
previous moments of suspense had been a dream. 

But there lay the written words : '' DE TRIiSTI- 
TATE,'' to recall them to me. 

l^ext day the doctor came again. The right side 
of the patient was paralyzed and remained so for 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 331 

eight months. JSTever for another day was he able 
with certainty to express either thoughts or wants. 
Occasionally whole sentences would roll easily from, 
his tongue but these came each time as a surprise to 
himself and to his nurses. For the most part, what 
he said was jargon, or single words having, perhaps, 
some reference to his idea or immediate need which 
must, after all, be guessed. In a sense, the fact so 
weirdly stated by himself was true — He had lost his 
speech. The cloister of his senses was complete. 
He was a strong, muscular man pinned down with 
only a vast capacity to suffer. Between tragic hours 
of delirium and fierce pain came intervals of sunny 
cheerfulness when he would try to tell us funny 
stories, or burst into laughter at his own absurd- 
ities of helplessness. Weeks and even months passed 
by in which death seemed each day imminent. But 
why give details of a strange illness that was, indeed, 
as characterized by a thoughtful relative, a pro- 
longed martyrdom of anguish. The thought that it 
was for the most part endured in expiation not of 
his own but of others' sins came to more than one 
person. 

Some weeks after the paralytic stroke, it was 
decided to anoint him. There was a doubt in some 
minds as to whether he was reasonable enough to 
understand what was to be done for him. His vice- 
rector approached the bed in surplice and stole, to 
be met with a fierce thrust of the patient's long and 
powerful arm. The vice-rector stepped aside a 
little but continued to read the prayers of the Ritual. 
He took the sacred oil and bending over the prostrate 
priest touched it to his eye-lid. Instantly the expres- 



332 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

sion of Father Walworth^s face changed. I stood 
at the foot of the hed drawing from the paralyzed 
foot a knit sock made for him hj a non-Catholic 
cousin. I saw him smile sweetly and he murmured : 
" Yes, yes/' as his other eye, long diseased and cur- 
tained besides with a cataract, received its unction. 
At the same moment he gently lifted his left arm 
from the covers and held the hand over toward 
Father Dillon. It is customary, I learned, to anoint 
a priest, not on the palm but on the back of the 
hand. Just then, as shown by a movement of the 
coverings, his left leg unbent and the foot was 
promptly pushed into my hands to be made ready 
for the anointing. 

When the solemn and impressive sacramental cere- 
mony was over, and the prayers ceased, he unclosed 
his eyes and said in a calm, sweet voice : " Isn't there 
something else ? " The vice-rector turned quickly 
toward him and in a loud, clear voice, said : '^ Shall 
I bring you Holy Communion ? " This time no 
words came but Father Walworth opened his mouth 
and extended his tongue as is done at the altar-rail. 
In a few moments more the Blessed Sacrament had 
been brought up to him from the church, after which 
he strove to make aloud a fervent thanksgiving. 

A strong young man, a medical student, was just 
then his night-nurse. He and I and " Libbie " re- 
mained on our knees in the room. The efforts of 
the sick man to utter words of prayer, his halting 
speech and struggle to collect his thoughts, so 
touched the large and sturdy nurse that great tears 
rolled over his young face. Uncle said to me, who 
was nearest : " Can't you help ? " and I repeated 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 333 

verses of Faber's hymns and short aspirations after 
communion which I knew he loved; and then extin- 
guishing the blessed candles, left him to a peace- 
ful rest. He received communion frequently during 
the following months. It was Kev. Father Judge 
who gave him the last viaticum. He was again 
anointed, the third day before he died, by Rev. 
Father Dillon. This time he was less conscious than 
on the previous occasion. After eight months in bed, 
on a milk diet, other food being refused, his strength 
was gone. He lay part of each day in a torpid con- 
dition. But the morning of the day on which he re- 
ceived the last anointing, he called me by name and 
kissed his crucifix. It was Sunday, September 16th. 

" ^N'elly ! " said he ; and he looked up several times, 
first at me and then at the Pio J^ono crucific, blessed 
for a happy death ; till finally, he got me to unhook it 
from the wall and give it to him to kiss. He was 
too weak to hold it even for a moment. So I put it 
again on its hook, near the picture of " Christ^s En- 
tombment " where it had hung for twenty-six years 
within easy reach from his bed. 

My strength, too, was waning from disturbance of 
sleep, anxiety and care. I was obliged to spend at 
least half of each day on my bed. For the month 
past, the greater part of my previous duties had been 
taken up by Sister Celine, a merry, strong, sweet, 
skillfully trained Bon Secours nun, obtained from 
her convent in !N'ew York city. This was made pos- 
sible through the kind intervention of the Superior 
of the Paulists, Very Eev. Father Deshon, on 
consultation with the Archbishop. After attending 
to her patient, Sister Celine would come at night to 



334 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

give me the latest news of him, and kneel at my 
bedside to say aloud with me our night prayers. 
Once, with her French accent, she spoke thus: 
^' Your Uncle is resting very quietly. I put holy 
water on his forehead and asked : ' Father, did you 
say your night prayers to-night ? ' He lifted his 
head from the pillow, a little so/^ she continued, 
smoothing her face of its smiles to mimic his slow, 
stately and courteous bend of the head forward in 
assent. " Then I made a cross on him there, with 
my thumb.'' She touched her own brow. " !N'ow 
you know he is resting and very wise, so go to sleep. 
Good night." 

The last three days of his life he did not speak at 
all ; nor did he notice me on Tuesday evening when 
I stood for a long time at his bedside. Sister Celine 
was with Father Walworth at 1 o'clock the next 
morning, which was that of his death. It was 
Wednesday, September 19, 1900. She found 
him conscious at that dark and quiet hour, for he 
made a motion of dissent when she touched his dry 
lips with a soothing wash. She thought he wanted 
to be undisturbed; that perhaps he was praying. 
She left him to rest, William Dunn being seated in 
an arm chair near by to watch with him till she 
should return. At 4 o'clock William stepped up 
to the bed and found that he was dead. Thus quietly, 
to use the vice-rector's words, ^' He slipped away 
from us ;" just exactly when, no one knew. 

It was verv hard to convince me he was dead. 
I was awakened by a kiss from Sister Celine, and 
she led me to his side. His face and hands felt warm 
to my touch. I thought the doctor would be able in 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 335 

a few minutes to restore him to consciousness. This 
idea came from my inexperience. All present knew 
more of death scenes than I. They assured me that 
Father Walworth was indeed gone from our midst, 
beyond recall. All the work and all the pain of his 
long life were over. 

" When he dies, give him every honor of burial," 
were the words Bishop Burke had spoken some weeks 
before. He had visited him whilst he lay on his 
death-bed, had received his greeting and had accorded 
him a blessing, just before starting for Europe. He 
being still abroad, his Vicar-General, Monsignor 
Swift, was promptly notified of the death and pre- 
pared, together with the vice-rector of St. Mary's, 
to carry out the full ceremonial of the grand old 
church to which Father Walworth had given his al- 
legiance. Festoons of mournful drapery in the his- 
toric parish church proved to be no less picturesque 
among its graceful arches, than were the old-time 
Christmas evergreens, which the pastor had long ago 
taught the boys and girls of his parish to use with 
good effect. His friends from far and near, of 
Church and State, and City, as well as members of 
the family, gathered rapidly. The chanting of a 
hundred priests who stood near his bier just outside 
the sanctuary and in front of the great altar arch 
he had himself designed, rose and fell in majestic 
waves of sound more like a grand pseon of victory 
than the pleading of sorrowful prayer. It was in- 
spiring, thrilling, uplifting. On those waves of 
sound the soul could rise up and move onward like 
a well-steered ship over the breast of an ocean of 
thoughts toward its appointed haven. The majesty 



336 Life Sketches of Father Walwokth. 

of concurrent prayer and praise in the chanting of 
that office of the dead seemed to rise to the apex of its 
might. And why should it not, over the entry into 
eternity of a man of God, a nobleman of Nature, 
a true priest according to the order of Melchisedec ? 
Each and all of these was Father AValworth. 

One month later Father Deshon had a Solemn 
High Mass of Requiem chanted for him at St. Paul's 
Church in 'New York city. 

The civic tribute to his memory reached its fullest 
expression six months later, when his fellow citizens 
were formally gathered to voice their sentiments in a 
public hall at Albany. A sufficient account of this 
occasion as well as further details of the funeral may 
be gathered from a selection of press notices to be 
given as a conclusion to this chapter and work. 

His amanuensis has but a few more words of her 
own to set down. Her task in that capacity ended 
the very day that the stroke of paralysis felled Father 
Walworth like a storm-stricken oak tree destined to 
lie prostrate in its strength for a long time, whilst 
yet holding much of life-giving sap and leafy 
foliage. 

It was a labor of love, however, on her part, to 
gather up later his note-books and papers with which 
she has worked through the changing seasons since 
his death to build him a monument, — not indeed like 
the shaft to bear his name that Albanians have pro- 
jected, and which she hopes some day will take 
ghape to adorn their capital city — not like the sub- 
stantial granite stone of sarcophagus shape that 
marks his grave in Greenridge Cemetery^ at Saratoga 
Springs — not like the greatest of his monuments, 



In the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 337 

the church he built to the honor of God under the 
patronage of St. Mary. Long may it stand to keep 
in memory and in motion the good works of which 
he laid a foundation, sure and strong, for the lasting 
betterment of souls in old Albany ! 'No ! Like none 
of these, is the volume of remembrance she has 
planned, and here brings to a close. There is neither 
granite nor brick in its make-up. Neither is it of 
one solid piece, nor even strongly mortised together. 
But for all that it was undertaken in a spirit of lov- 
ing veneration ; time and effort have been given to 
the garnering and use of his life records ; sentence has 
been added to sentence and chapter to chapter, as 
opportunity offered and as health permitted until the 
plan, as first blocked out, has been carried on to com- 
pletion. Whatever the public may read or leave un- 
read, may say or leave unsaid about this series of 
sketches, the author can still hold to a simple state- 
ment of her own. This work is her monument to 
Father Walworth. Poor little pen monument 
though it be, it is the best that she could build. 

Let us who here witness its completion Inscribe 
upon it a few of his owtl lines, those that follow his 
description of our tall northern pine trees. Let us 
cut them large and clear, that the fragrance of his 
thought may still be with us. We will choose for 
our purpose these : 

Where all glides to one night, 
What value has fame in the flignLT 

Brief life! Brief record after death 1 
•Yet happy I, could this be mine; — 
A life as lofty as the pine, 

And balmy as its breath. 



CONCLUSION 



F»ARX I 



FUNERAL AND OBITUARY NOTICES 

As printed in the Albany newspapers. 
(From the Times-Union, Saturcfay, Sept. 22, 1900.) 

FINAL HONOR TO FATHER WALWORTH 

PRIEST AND LAYIVIEN GRIEVE AT HIS BIER. 
ELOQUENT EULOGY OF HIS NOBLE LIFE. 

Closing Scene at Old St. Mary's where He Labored so 
Long and so Well — Common Council Takes Official 
Action — Memorial Service to be Held Under its Aus- 
pices. 

Funeral services over the remains of Father Clarence A. 
Walworth were held to-day at St. Mary's Church, which for 
so many years had been the scene of the priest's labors. They 
possessed all the solemnity and impressiveness of Catholic 
ceremonial and were a befitting tribute to the close of a long 
and useful life. His brother priests of the diocese, city 
officials and prominent Albanians, his parishioners, many of 
whom had been within the pale of his guiding influence from 
the cradle, gathered in the old edifice to attest their deep 
regard for him and to bear witness to the final honors paid 
to his earthly career. 

The solemn mass of requiem, the prayers for the dead, the 
eloquent eulogy, constituting the ceremony, were most im- 
pressive. The eulogy was a high tribute to the grand and 
noble life of the deceased and its great accomplishments. It 
sank deep in the hearts of the vast congregation and intensi- 
fied the sorrow experienced by many a heart. 

After the services the remains were borne to the D. & H. 
depot and taken by train to Saratoga Springs, and there con- 



FUNEKAL AND ObITUARY NoTICES. 339 

signed to their final resting-place, amid the scenes of Father 
Walworth's childhood and among those who best knew the 
name and family upon whom his life shed honor and renown. 

Remains, in State. 

The remains were laid in state in the church late yesterday 
afternoon. Clad in full priestly vestments, they reposed in 
an open casket resting on a catafalque before the main altar. 
In the hand rested the *' Chalice of Life " — the expression 
of the priestly function. 

The casket was covered with black cloth and the plate was 
inscribed as follows: "1820-1900. Died Sept. 19, 1900, Rev. 
Clarence A. Walworth, LL. D." The altar had its anti- 
pendium of black and the pulpit and railings of the galleries 
were festooned with the same sombre drapings. 

The remains were escorted to the church by a large number 
of priests, who chanted the " Miserere." 

The pall-bearers were the church committee, Messrs. James 
Allen, P. H. McQuade, Patrick Murray, Harvey T. V. Harri- 
gan, Daniel J. Hartnett, Joseph J. McMullen, James H. Cas- 
sidy, John Murtaugh, William E. Walsh and Richard J. 
Joyce, The bearers were members of the Young Men's 
Sodality of St. Mary's parish, and were John V. Wallace, 
Michael J. Gillooly, James Keeshan, Edward Cotter, John T. 
Kelly and John A. Welden. 

Services in the church followed the priests' chanting of 
prayers for the dead. Throughout the night the casket was 
guarded by members of the Young Men's Sodality of the 
church and the remains w^ere viewed by a large number of 
Albanians. 

Common Council Takes Action. 

While the features of the priest were being viewed within 
the solemn precincts of the church the city legislature, the 
common council, was in session one block away giving public 
oflacial expression to the general sorrow and regret experienced 
by citizens, without regard to creed or station. 

The meeting was called to take official action and eulogistic 
remarks were made by President Fitzgerald, and Aldermen 
Thompson and Leddy. 



340 Life Sketches of Fathee Walwoeth. 

Resolutions of Regret. 

Alderman Thompson introduced the following resolution, 
which was unanimously adopted: 

" The common council have to-day convened to honor the 
dead. 

*' Such has been the life and character of the Reverend Dr. 
Clarence A. Walworth, for more than thirty years in this 
city, that although this branch of the city government rarely, 
if ever, have been called together to pass eulogies upon any 
but a public official, yet this reverend gentleman had attained 
to such public eminence as a promoter of good city and State 
government (the greatest among his labors being to better the 
estate of the intemperate poor of our city ) , It has been deemed 
appropriate that this council, representing all the people of 
the capital city, irrespective of church or creed, should give 
some expression to sentiments occasioned by the loss of so 
valuable and beloved a citizen. To-day the high as well as the 
lowly among this large population stand ready to do honor to 
the memory of this pre-eminent worker in the labor of reform, 
good citizenship and good government. Therefore, 

"Be it resolved, That in the death of Rev. Clarence A. Wal- 
worth, this city loses a most eminent figure among the clergy 
of Albany, because of his active life not only as a missioner 
and as rector of the oldest church of his faith in our city, 
for so many years, but as a zealous and public-spirited 
citizen, ever ready to promote any reform or advance the 
good in municipal government, as well as being watchful and 
active in many questions before the Legislature of this State 
affecting this city, intended to correct the habits and char- 
acter of the people. 

" Resolved, That in his death this city loses a great friend, 
and such was his position among the people that his place 
will never again be filled. Such were his qualifications as 
a citizen of his worldly estate, his noble nature and magnetic 
influence, that he was peculiarly fitted as a clergyman to 
accomplish a great deal for his fellow men, and his loss will 
long be mourned by the people of Albany. 

" Resolved, That this council, as such, attend his funeral." 

Alderman Thompson moved that a committee of five be 
appointed, of which the president should be chairman, to act 



Funeral and Obituary Notices. 341 

in conjunction with the citizens' committee appointed by the 
mayor to arrange for public memorial services in honor of 
the dead priest. The following were appointed: President 
Thomas T>. Fitzgerald, chairman; Aldermen Thompson, Keeler, 
Leddy and Carr. 

The Funeral. 

St. Mary's Church never contained a larger or sadder con- 
gregation than that which assembled to pay the last tribute 
of honor to the distinguished dead. The church was dressed 
in the sombre garb of mourning, the altars, the chancel rail, 
and the heavy columns were clad in the midnight hue of 
death. The subdued light through the stained glass windows, 
the flickering glare of the many tapers, the deep chant of 
priests and choir, the solemn silence that reigned among the 
congregation, all told of the awful presence of death. 

The remains rested before the main altar throughout the 
ceremony, which began at 9.30 o'clock. Within the sanctuary 
were Rt. Rev. Bishop Gabriels, of Ogdensburg; Dean Duffy, of 
Rensselaer, and a number of other clergymen. Priests to the 
number of sixty occupied the pews of the center aisle near the 
catafalque. The relatives of Father Walworth, who had come 
from Saratoga and Schenectady on the early morning trains, 
sat to the right of the center aisle. Mayor Blessing, Com- 
missioner of Public Safety Ham, Commissioner of Public 
Works Bissell, Comptroller Gallien, and the other heads of 
city departments, together with the president and members of 
the common council and prominent citizens sat to the left. 
Members of religious orders occupied pews to the rear of these, 
and the Young Ladies' Sodality, the Young Men's Sodality 
and other church societies attended in a body. 

The solemn office of the dead was chanted by the priests of 
the diocese at the opening of the service. It was led by 
Father O'Brien of Sandy Hill and Fathers Walsh and Lynch 
of the Cathedral. This part of the service occupied nearly 
one hour and was most impressive. 

It was followed by a solemn mass of requiem celebrated by 
Very Rev. John J. Swift, vicar-general of the diocese and 
pastor of St. Patrick's Church, Troy. Xbe deacon was Rev. 
John J. McDonald, of St. Patrick's Church, Binghamton; 



342 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

sub-deacon, Rev. James Blumer of Sts. Peter and Paul's 
Church, Canajoharie; master of ceremonies, Rev. Joseph H. 
Fitzgerald, chancellor of the diocese, and assistant master of 
ceremonies. Rev. F'ather Judge, one of Father Walworth's 
assistants at St. Mary's Church. The musical features of the 
service were very impressive. 

The Eulogy. 
The eulogy was delivered by Rev. Patrick H. McDermott, 
of St. Bridget's Church, Watervliet, formerly an assistant to 
Father Walworth at St. Mary's. Among other things he said: 
*' It is no wonder that so great a throng comes to pay rever- 
ence at the bier of Father Walworth. His brother clergy 
come from afar to bid the last farewell to their priestly 
brother. The mayor and officials of this city and its fellow 
citizens are here to pay him homage. Of the ancestry of 
Father Walworth, of the long line of celebrated personages 
w^ho have been members of his family, let another speak. 
Albany saw him for the first time some seventy years ago as 
a member of the Albany Boys' Academy, where, under the 
tutorship of Dr. Beck, he received his early education. At 
Union College we find him a leader among the students and 
giving evidence of his future greatness. Here he studied law 
and laid the foundation for his future career. He was a 
hard student and went to the depths of any branch of knowl- 
edge he undertook to master. His examinations were brilliant 
efforts. Wliat young man ever entered the noble profession 
of the law with brighter prospects? In that profession his 
career would certainly have been brilliant, but a thirst for 
greater knowledge drew him to a study of higher things. His 
religious principles were then unfixed. He studied Calvin, 
and the theory of that school, but was not satisfied. He 
pursued his theological studies until he determined that he 
should return to the faith of his fathers and join the Catholic 
Church. As a minister of the Church he was a shining light. 
His ministry in England was full of consolation. He worked 
in the foremost ranks of the Oxford movement, which was the 
means of drawing so many back into the fold of Catholicity. 
As a missionary in this country his labors were phenomenal. 
He began his work when primitive conditions prevailed; when 
the canal boat was the system of rapid transit. As a mis- 
sionary he had few equals. 



FU^'ERAL A2^D ObITUARY IN'OTICES. 343 

" His preaching was eloquent. His thought ^^'^3 deep, his 
language graceful and his oratory of great power and force. 
A few years ago I met a man in Schenectady who repeated 
to me the substance of a sermon he heard Father Walworth 
deliver thirty-five years before. This is but an illustration 
of the power of his utterance. His words burned into the 
souls of his hearers and lived while memory lasted. That 
is true eloquence — when a man preaches the word of God, 
the promise of good, and it is understood, remembered and 
kept. 

" In this diocese he has worked as a faithful priest. Of the 
beauties of his character, of the effects of his efforts upon the 
letters of the day, of his wondrous interest in science, of his 
deep theology, of his brilliant style as a writer and a speaker, 
of his success in the many fields of thought, let his biographer 
speak. 

" I bid you to consider his faith — how it came to him and 
how he kept it. He did not embrace Catholicity in a day; 
he came to it gradually. After having studied various reli- 
gions and denominations he embraced the Episcopal faith, 
where he found an opportunity to have higher sentiment for 
God and better thought for man. But he was not the man 
to stand half way between the Protestant and the old faith. 
He never did anything by halves. What he did he did thor- 
oughly, and that is true of his efforts to find religious con- 
solation. He became a Catholic. When he accepted the old 
faith it was with the cry of joy which comes to the imprisoned 
intellect at the revelation of truth. When Clarence Walworth 
knew that faith he embraced it and it became a part of him 
until his death. He abandoned himself to it. He gave to it 
his best thought and action and his many years of life. The 
energies of his soul were stirred that it might be propagated. 
He left family and sacrificed worldly achievements, which 
through the brilliancy of his intellect might have been his, 
and gave his life to the service of his God and his fellow men. 
He never found it necessary to apologize for what he did, 
or to be ashamed of the step he had taken. He kept his 
faith, not only as an intellectual life; it became to him part 
of his nature. While he spoke and wrote of the most sublime 
truths and mysteries of religion, his faith was as that of a 
little child, simple and innocent. 



344 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

"His end was peaceful. He died with the knowledge that 
his life had been well spent and had been productive both to 
himself and his fellow men. He had tried to better humanity 
and serve his God faithfully, and in both he had succeeded. 
He loved the Church and her ceremonials. He loved the beauty 
of her service. You have heard to-day the solemn requiem 
that has been sung above his ashes. He loved the people of 
his congregation and especially the children, and Centennial 
Hall stands on his gift to them and those of the future. 

" It is needless for me to tell you to remember him. All 
Albany that knew him will do that. His memory will be 
associated with that of the events of your early life. You 
will think of the man who, as your pastor^, guarded you and 
watched over your development with priestly care, preaching 
to you the truths and consolations of your religion and aiding 
you in the hour of sorrow and distress. You will remember 
him and pray for him, and his memory will be a blessed 
benediction to you. May the High Priest, Jesus Christ, re- 
ceive this worthy priest and grant to him eternal peace and 

joy." 

Interment at Saratoga. 
At the conclusion of the high mass the remains were 
blessed and the final prayers for the dead were chanted. The 
clergy, city officials and others who had not seen the remains 
viewed them and the casket was closed. The body was borne 
to the train and conveyed to Saratoga Springs, where it was 
interred at Greenridge Cemetery. Many of the priests accom- 
panied it. 

LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. 

The Late Father Walworth. 

To the Times-Union: 

The most impressive, beautiful and solemn sight it has 
been my privilege to witness was the funeral of Rev. Father 
Walworth on Saturday. It was a just tribute to a noble man. 

They were two grand old men — Gladstone and Walworth. 
I never quite understood the good father. In fact I always 
thought him cold and unapproachable until I met him a few 
years ago in a business way; then I discovered his humble 
simplicity, genial manner and kindness of heart. I have 
loved him ever since. 



Funeral and Obituary Notices. 345 

Let me say a few words for his faithful assistant, Rev. 
John J. Dillon, who has labored zealously since his coming to 
St, Mary's to bring the church to its present state of com- 
pletion and artistic beauty. Last, but not le^st, by any means, 
he built the handsome school and thus satisfied Father Wal- 
worth's last ambition. B. 

FLTITHER DETAILS OF THE FUNERAL. 

(From the Argus, September 23, 1900.) 

With all the solemnity and pomp of the ritual of the 
Church, the last services for the dead were conducted yester- 
day morning over all that was mortal of the late Rev. Clar- 
ence A. Walworth, rector of St, Mary's at the church where 
his ministrations had covered over a third of a century. 

Throughout the night the remains were viewed by thou- 
sands of people, and the throng embraced adherents of all 
creeds, who admired the earnest man and the patriotic citi- 
zen. They came in droves from all parts of the city, unmind- 
ful of the fact that he had been a priest of the Church of 
Rome, not thinking of the doctrines he held as a minister of 
that Church, but anxious to pay their last tribute of respect 
to the man who had all his life stood for the highest ideal of 
citizenship, and who fearlessly battled for the moral uplifting 
of the whole community. 

The solemn and touching office of the dead was chanted by 
the priests of the diocese. 

On a Saturday, when parish duties are multitudinous, it 
was a striking instance of the respect and esteem in which the 
dead priest was held to see the large number of the clergy 
at the final services. Over 100 of them were in attendance, 
and many came at a great sacrifice of time and comfort from 
distant parts. Rt. Rev. Bishop Henry Gabriels, of Ogdens- 
burg, who was present, was formerly vicar-general of the 
Albany diocese, and president of St. Joseph's Provincial Sem- 
inary when that institution was located in Troy. 

Besides the delegation of secular clergy from this and other 
dioceses, there were present many Franciscans, Augustinians, 
Jesuits, Redemptorists, and Paulists. Conspicuous among the 
clergy in attendance was Very Rev. George Deshon, C. S. P., 



346 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Superior of the Congregation of Missionary Priests of St. Paul 
the Apostle, the roommate of General Grant while the latter 
was studying at the West Point Academy; and, the only sur- 
viving member of the band of Eedemptorists who founded the 
Paulists. Father Deshon and Father Walworth continued the 
close personal friendship formed in the days of long ago, and 
as the years made inroads on the health of the latter, this 
friendship was cemented. 

The church was crowded to the doors with the parishioners, 
hundreds of whom had been baptized by the dead priest, many 
of whom had been married by him, and still others who could 
recall his officiating at the last rites over those whom they 
held dearest. 

There were also present a number of the pastors of churches 
of other denominations in the city, prominent among whom 
was the Rev. Walton W^. Battershall,* rector of St. Peter's 
Episcopal church and a life-long friend and admirer of Father 
Walworth. * * * 

FATHER WALWORTH'S BOOK OF POEMS. 

(From the Argus, September 23, 1900.) 

Volume Published by the Putnams in 1888 Portrays the 
Man Behind the Priestly Robe — Glimpses of a Good 
Man's Inner Life — Love of Nature a Striking Trait — 
"Andiatorocte." 

From the city street is gone a familiar picture of recent 
years — a patriarchal old man of towering figure and thought- 
seamed face, leaning with the pathetic feebleness of age on 
the shoulder of a faithful black boy. 

There M'^as something of distinction in the face that brought 
forth a question from the newer resident — the older knew 
him well — and the answer was: "Father Walworth." 

Clarence A. Walworth, ripe with years and honors, who 
died last week and for whom yesterday bells tolled solemnly 
and the city mourned, as the funeral cortege passed, was a 
priest, a scholar and a poet. The newspapers have written 



*It is to be regretted that no copy is at hand of this friend's touching 
eulogy of Father Walworth, given in his own Church of St. Peter, on a 
Sunday soon after the funeral. It was counted among the very 
best, by those who heard it. E. H. W. 



FUXERAL AIs^D ObITUAET XoTICES. 347 

his obituary in long columns. He lived beyond the usual 
length of men. He came of a historic family. His nature 
was fuller of force and fire and the passions that shape great 
thoughts and noble deeds than the nature of most men. In 
his youth he grasped life wholly, and the tenacity of it was 
with him to the last. He lived; his experience touched many 
lands and men of many minds. His religious convictions came 
as such things come to poets, and he cast aside the traditions 
of family and became a Catholic priest. Father Walworth's 
strenuous part in the great Paulist movement is history. 
His life in Albany, as rector of old St. Mary's Church, beloved 
by the community, sought by scholars, with friends of every 
creed, is the memory that is left to the city. Some of the 
older generation knew him well ; but to the younger he became 
a historic landmark and a tradition of greatness. Few Al- 
banians could name his books by title — " The Gentle 
Skeptic;" his "Ghosts," in reply to Col. Ingersoll's famous 
lecture,* and, finally, "Andiatorocte, or the Eve of Lady Day 
on Lake George and Other Poems, Hymns and Meditations in. 
Verse," as the title page puts it. 

There is no portrait drawn with lines, with light and shade, 
through the cunning skill of photography, cast into electrotype 
and printed on the press of the Argus in this morning's 
paper, that could as genuinely reflect the man as does this 
book of poems published by G. P. Putnam's Sons of l^ew 
York in 1888. Father Walworth was a poet before he was a 
priest, and it is in his verse that the man stands forth. Be- 
hind the priestly robe of which he wrote one can look into 
the soul of a good and great- thoughted man; not with idle 
curiosity, but with an appreciation of the type of man who 
lived so long as part of the life and the work of the 
community. 

"Andiatorocte " is almost Wordsworthian in its meditation 
on nature and its beauty of description. 



* "Ghosts," a Lecture by Father Walworth, was issued in pamphlet 
form, Albany, Times Company Print, 1878 (pp. 12). 



348 Life Sketches of Fathee, Walworth. 

TRIBUTE OF A YOUNG PRIEST. 

(From the Daily Press-Knickerhocker and Albany Morning 
Express, September 24, 1900.) 

Many of the Membebs of St. Maey's Congregation Were in 
Tears Yesterday as They Listened to Father Judge's 
Eulogy of Their Late Pastor. 

A large congregation was present at the 10.30 o'clock Mass 
yesterday morning in St. Mary's Church. The Rev. Father 
Judge ascended the pulpit and took occasion to deliver a 
fitting eulogy upon the late Father Walworth. Rev. Father 
Judge said in part : " I am sure that the people of this parish 
must have learned with sincere regret of the death of Father 
Walworth. I do not believe that it is necessary for me to 
add anything by way of eulogy to what has already been said 
within the past few days; but nevertheless I feel that I would 
not be doing my duty as a priest of this parish were I merely 
to announce his death and say nothing more. 

" Father Walworth was pre-eminently a gentleman, a pro- 
found scholar, and a saintly priest. For a long time before 
his death he had been estranged from you, but this estrange- 
ment came not through his own volition, but by the hand 
of God. In this, however, we can see manifested the mercy 
and goodness of God. During this forced retirement he had 
an opportunity to prepare for that which came to pass dur- 
ing the week just closed. 

" You probably knew him better than I, because your ac- 
quaintance with him was longer. For three years, however, 
I lived with him and I know that he led a saintly life. 

"Already I have told you Father Walworth was a gentleman. 
His dignified and noble bearing won for him the respect and 
admiration of all. He was also public-spirited and broad- 
minded and took an active interest in everything that tended 
to the betterment of his fellow man. 

" Father Walworth was a profound scholar. When he as- 
cended this pulpit and announced to you the word of God 
you marvelled at his eloquence, learning and deep insight 
into things spiritual. Above all he was a saintly priest. I 
have known him to rise at an early hour in midwinter and 



Funeral and Obituary Notices. 349 

come out into this cliurcli and assist at the holy sacrifice of 
the Mass. Through age and infirmity he was deprived of the 
consolation of offering Mass himself. 

" Father Walworth was esteemed not only by the members 
of this parish, but also by the citizens of Albany, regardless 
of creed. The Rev. Father Walworth is with us no more, 
though his remains rest in the cemetery of a neighboring vil- 
lage. I am sure, however, that your memory of him will 
not fail with the interment of his body, that your prayers 
will arise to the throne of God so that his soul may find 
eternal rest." 

The eulogy was listened to with great attention on the 
part of the congregation, many of whom were in tears before 
the closing sentence was preached. 



F»ART II 



HONORED BY ALBANY 



An Account of a Meeting Held March 21, 1901, 

Under the Auspices of a Citizens' Committee 

and the Common Council. 



TRIBUTE OF FELLOW CITIZENS TO THE MEM- 
ORY OF FATHER WALWORTH. 

(From the Argus, Albany, March 22, 1901.) 

Memorial Services Held Last Evening at Odd FteLLOws' 
Hall — Some Eloquent Addresses Made — Men of All 
Creeds and Classes Unite to Pay Honor to the Memory 
of a Noble Priest — The Program. 

Rev. Clarence Augustus Walworth, rector of St. Mary's 
Church for 34 years. — Born at Plattsburg, May 30, 1820; died 
at Albany, September 19, 1900. 



Memorial services to honor the memory of the late Rev. 
Clarence A. Walworth were held last evening at Odd Fellows' 
Hall. The exercises were a splendid tribute to the character 
of a man whom every citizen of Albany, regardless of race 
or creed, felt a pleasure in honoring. Those who belonged 
to the faith he professed were there in goodly numbers, but 
they showed no more eagerness to pay him honor than did 
the citizens of other creeds. The head of the Episcopal Church 
of Albany esteemed it a privilege to stand on the same plat- 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 351 

form with the head of the Catholic Church of Albany and 
speak words of praise of the man whose broad mind and 
great heart was always working for the uplifting of his 
fellow man. The addresses were masterful and the whole 
affair was conducted without n single hitch. 
The services were in charge of the following: 

CITIZENS' COMMITTEE.— Dr. Samuel B. Ward, chairman ; 
Frederick E. Wadhams, secretary; Mayor Blessing, William L. 
Learned, John Boyd Thacher, Charles Tracey, Amasa J. Parker, 
Rev. Dr. Max Schlesinger, Rev. W. W. Battershall, John W. 
McNamara, Rev. Dr. Edward G. Selden, Michael Delehanty, 
Rev. Alfred H. Eaton, Michael F. Walsh, Patrick H. Connors, 
James F. Tracey, Benjamin W. Arnold, Anthony N. Brady, 
Edward J. Hussey, Alden Chester, William F. Winship, Wil- 
liam P. Rudd, Frederick E. Wadhams, Dudley Olcott, Thomas 
J. Lanahan, Charles M. Stuart, Dr. Albert Vander Veer, 
Marcus T. Hun, John G. Myers, James McCredie, John T. 
Norton, Peter Kinnear, James B. Lyon, James H. Manning, 
Wheeler B. Melius, Hugh Hastings, Peter J. Flinn, Richard 
B. Rock, Henry W. Garfield, Chauncey E. Argersinger, 
Leonard Kip, Samuel S. Hatt, Frederick Tillinghast, Dr. 
Edward G. Cox, John D. Parsons, Jr. 

COMMON COUNCIL COMMITTEE.— Thomas D. Fitzgerald, 
Newton W. Thompson, Joseph F. Leddy, Ellsworth Carr, Peter 
Keeler, James Maloy. 

The ushers were students of the Boys' Academy and Chris- 
tian Brothers' Academy in uniform. 

The hall was well filled with a representative body of 
Albanians and a large number of ladies were present. The 
only decorations were immense palms which were placed on 
either side of the stage. After the prelude by Gartland's 
orchestra the chairs on the stage were taken by the speakers 
and others. The first row was occupied by Rev. Dr. Schlesin- 
ger, of the Temple Beth Emeth, Mayor Blessing, Bishop Burke, 
Bishop Doane, Father Elliott, Dr. Ward, Frederick E. Wad- 
hams, Wheeler B. Melius and Rev. John Dillon, successor of 
Father Walworth as pastor of St. Mary's. Among the others 
on the stage were noticed Judge Denis O'Brien, of the Court 
of Appeals, former Mayor Van Alstyne, former City Engineer 



352 Honored by Albany. 

Andrews, President of the Common Council Thomas D, Fitz- 
gerald, County Clerk Patrick E. McCabe, Commissioner of 
Public Safety Ham, Commissioner of Public Works Bissell, 
Comptroller Gallien, Alderman Barends and Gen. Amasa J. 
Parker. 

This was the program: 

Music 'r. Melody in F 

Prayer Rt. Rev. T. M. A. Burke, D. D. 

Address Rt. Rev. Wm. C. Doane, D. D., L. L. D. 

Music " Prayer " from Lohengrin 

Address Mr. Wheeler B. Melius 

Music Flower Song, by Tobain 

Address Very Rev. Walter Elliott, C. S. P., 

Rector, St. Thomas's College, Catholic University, 

Washington, D. C. 
Music — " Priests' March " Mendelssohn 

Dr. Samuel B. Ward, chairman of the Citizens' committee, 
presided and made a brief address before introducing Bishop 
Burke, who made the prayer. All stood while the bishop 
prayed. He closed by repeating the Lord's Prayer, and every 
one in the hall could distinctly hear Bishop Doane, who stood 
beside Bishop Burke, repeat the words in unison with the 
Catholic bishop. At different times during the delivery of the 
addresses, the fervor of the speakers moved the audience to 
applause. 

After the prayer by Bishop Burke, Dr. Ward introduced 
Bishop Doane. 

BISHOP DOANE'S EULOGY. 

Sterling Character of the Departed. 

Bishop Doane said: 

It is my privilege to speak to you to-night about a man 
who, during his long life, was among the most useful, and, 
in the time to come, will be counted among the most honor- 
able citizens of this old city of Albany. One is tempted to 
claim him as an Albanian because, born in Plattsburg, he 
was educated in our own academy and graduated from our 
own university of Union, whose roots reach out from its 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 353 

nearby location and strike deep into our city's soil. Taking 
in all his history, he was in touch with Albany for more 
than seventy years of his long life, and of those seventy 
years, quite half were spent in active and most valuable 
service to the best civic interests of the citv. It is fitting 
and just, that, merely as Albanians, we should note the pass- 
ing out of our public life, and away from our personal rela- 
tions, of a man who found here the planting and spent here 
the fruitage of his mental activities. I am here to-night, 
by the courtesy of the committee having in charge these com- 
memorative exercises. I am here upon the ground of fellow 
citizenship with Clarence Walworth, quite sure that he recog- 
nized, as I do, that this means, as St. Paul proudly claimed 
of Tarsus, " a citizenship of no mean city." 

The duty has been assigned to another of speaking about 
what, naturally and necessarily, is the larger and deeper part 
of Father Walworth's life, namely, his service as a priest of 
the Roman Catholic Church; known for his eloquence as a 
preacher, his devotion as a pastor, the builder of St. Mary's 
church and, from the outside view, certainly among the fore- 
most representatives of that church in x^lbany. Along these 
lines his path and mine diverged absolutely and entirely, with 
never, I am glad to say, a thought of partisanship, and never 
a failure of recognition as to the honest sincerity of our diver- 
gent convictions. 

It is more than thirty years ago since I first met him 
here. He became permanently identified with Albany just 
one year before I did, thirty-five years ago, and we were good 
friends through all those years, and often, I am glad to say, 
associated in important interests that concerned the social 
and moral and civic advancement of the city. Older than I 
by twelve years, he was in the prime of his vitality and the 
fullness of his energy then, and it is hard to say which of the 
two figures leave the longest and the deepest impression on the 
mind — the erect and stalwart strength of his vigorous man- 
hood or the picturesque dignity of his green old age, as he 
moved slowly along our streets from day to day, his arm 
thrown over Lem's shoulder — the faithful colored attendant 
and companion of his walks — bowed with the weight and 
silvered with the honor of his eighty years. 



354 Honored by Albany. 

If ever any man combined in his instincts and his character 
two things sometimes counted antagnostic, Father Walworth 
was that man. He was the most aristocratic of democrats 
and the most democratic of aristocrats. Knowing nothing 
of his name or his lineage, it would have been plain to a 
casual acquaintance that the very essence of the grace of 
good breeding permeated his nature and added its peculiar 
charm to his intercourse with men. In the Walworth gene- 
alogy, which he compiled, " a long labor and an uncongenial 
undertaking," he says, he traces the family descent to one 
William Walworth, who emigrated to America, coming from 
London in 1689. But he traces back his name and his descent 
three centuries farther, to 1383, when Sir William Walworth 
was Lord-Mayor of London (in the reign of Richard II and in 
the time of the Wat Tyler rebellion), and the effigy of this 
Mayor, the first illustration in " The Walworths of America," 
is preserved in the Guild Hall in London. Plainly it was good 
stock, with breeding in it and instinct for distinction, whether 
we look for them in the Lord-Mayor of London, or in Father 
Walworth's latest progenitor, the distinguished Chancellor of 
the State of New York. And of the men that came between 
these two. Father Walworth says, commending his family 
history to his Walworth kindred, " they will not find many 
distinguished men that bore this family name, but they will 
find a goodly number, both men and women, who have been 
good citizens and have served their country well. We have 
contributed soldiers to our country in war time, and can 
show our martyrs, and the family has lent members here 
and there to the law, to medicine, to divinity, to trade, com- 
merce and manufacturing." 

I am struck with two suggestions in the preface of this 
book which may well guide me to-night in dealing with my 
subject. First, that the crest of the family arms was an 
arm grasping a dagger, with the motto, " Strike for the 
Laws." And, secondly, the description of the aim of his own 
history of the family. " I have not aimed to present the 
descendants of William Walworth, the emigrant, as a drill 
corps of dry skeletons or spectres rising from the ground, 
remaining in sight long enough to beget each other, and then 
sinking out of sight again like grim ghosts. I have tried to 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 355 

put some life into them where history or tradition would give 
me any honest flesh to put on them. I have always been 
glad to link any of them with the events of their day. One 
thing above all I do love, that is localization." I wish to 
localize Father Walworth here in Albany, as a man whose 
energies were guided by this motto, " Strike for the Laws." 
And, so far as may be, I wish to tell the story in his own 
words. 

Best Service Rendered. 

Perhaps the best service that he rendered to this city and 
the State was in striking for the laws upon the great subject 
of temperance. " Earnest, stormy and full of work," his life 
has been described by the preacher at the service of his 
burial. And he struck in both directions, first for the enact- 
ment, and then for the enforcement of wise laws. When 
Father Walworth began what we might well call this crusade, 
the condition of things in society was widely different from 
what it is to-day, and I am not surprised at the statement 
that he was often " urged to discontinue his sermons and 
lectures on temperance for both private and political reasons." 
Drunkenness in those days was neither so disreputable nor 
so unusual as, thank God, it is to-day, certainly among 
prominent and influential people. And even more than now, 
at that time, the thought of temperance was identified with 
what was supposed to be its only meaning and its only direc- 
tion, namely, total abstinence. I believe that Father Wal- 
worth organized the Total Abstinence Society for his own 
people on the sane and sound ground that nothing else can 
save some men and women, to whom moderation (always the 
most difiicult of graces and attainments) is an impossibility. 
But he never lent his influence to the extreme views of the 
prohibitionists, and while I can well believe that as a preacher 
he directed all the force of his eloquent warning and pleading 
against the disgusting and degrading vice of drunkenness, I 
know that in his constant efforts about the laws which could 
control and restrain the most dangerous temptation of drink, 
he was wise, moderate, temperate in his aims and in his 
methods of legislation. I was with him often in the discus- 
sions before our leoislative committees here w^hen the conten- 



356 Hoi^oRED BY Albany. 

tion was between the mischievous and selfish fanaticism of 
men who, in their own interests, were appealing for more 
privileges and more liberty for their traffic in drink than any 
other interest ever dreamed of asking for, and on the other 
hand, the impracticable one-idea-ed-ness of men who were un- 
willing to allow any restrictive legislation at all, on the 
ground that it recognized as possible the toleration by the 
State of the manufacture and the use of intoxicating liquors. 
And he was always clear and strong in his position, dis- 
criminating in his arguments, never a doctrinaire, not wedded 
to any special form of dealing with the question, but urging 
with all his earnestness and eloquence the enactment of just 
and wise restrictions, which distinguished between use and 
abuse, and recognized that the restraint of evil and the pro- 
jection of rights must be the characteristic features of just 
laws. Many a biting bloAv he struck for temperance in the 
highest and best sense of the word. And the State owes to-day 
largely to his influence much of what is best of our existing 
legislation. 

I greatly wish that a lecture of Father Walworth's, printed 
here twenty-two years ago, could be reprinted. The average 
temperance tract is either dull and dreary with platitudes or 
lurid and repulsive with a horrible realism, but this lecture 
is brimming over with power, directness, humor, originality, 
tenderness and conviction. It is called " The History of John 
Toby's Conversion, with his Views on Temperance, the Liquor 
Trade and the Excise Law." The main facts of it the writer 
says are true and happened within his own knowledge. And 
I am told that Mrs. Aver ill, whose clever kindliness reformed 
John Toby, is a sketch of Father Walworth's mother, and that 
she really advised and did with her womanly ingeniousness 
the one thing that reclaimed the drunkard. John Toby and 
Katy, his wife, are not unusual figures in this pitiful drama, 
but the Hon. Michael Magreedy, the grocer, and Mr. O'Gram- 
mon, the Assemblyman (the names themselves having in them 
the flavor of Dickens' suggestive inventiveness ) , are characters 
whose delineation combines originality of creation with pic- 
tures drawn to the life. * * *' 



Life Sketches op Father Walworth. 357 

[Lively and witty quotations were here given from the 
" John Toby '' Temperance Lecture as printed by the Albany 
News Company, 1878. See, p. 268, Chapter XII of this book.] 

It was the most fitting and natural thing that Father Wal- 
worth should have been selected to represent the Roman 
cliurch as the preacher at St. Mary's on the Bi-Centennial 
Sunday in Albany in 1886. And the sermon, both in its care- 
fulness of historical research and its breadth of sympathy, 
abundantly justified the selection. Painting the picture of a 
historical scene forty years before the city of Albany was 
chartered he points the moral and adorns the tale with words 
that breathe the spirit of our Divine Mayter and are full of 
instruction and inspiration for Christian people the world 
over. * * * 

[Quotations from the Bi-Centennial sermon given in Chapter 
XIII, of this book, are also here omitted.] 

Father Walworth received, in 1887, the degree of LL. D. 
from the University of the State of New York. The rareness 
of these degrees gives them a value which the Regents intend 
and which he greatly appreciated. The year before that he 
had delivered a most thoughtful and really brilliant address 
before the great gathering of educators in the university 
convocation, very radical in some of its statements, very lib- 
eral in his estimate of the importance of our common school 
system and with a very earnest plea for the recognition of 
the need of the moral and religious training of children. * * * 

[See, in Chapter II, of this book, some of the quotations here 
omitted. They were from the Address, " School Education," 
which in 1887 was published entire in pamphlet form by the 
Regents.] 

His summing up of the principal objects of a true education 
is sound and wise. These are Father Walworth's words: 

"Allow me here, at the very outset, to say that, in my 
humble opinion, the principal object of a good education is 
not to teach children things; what they need chiefly to learn 
is how to think, and what to think. Dogs know things, but 
they cannot think. When the education of men is in question, 
the wisest is not the one who knows the most things. 

" Wisdom consists in the knowledge of truth, especially the 
most valuable truth and in mastering that truth well. Chil- 



358 Hoi^oEED BY Albany. 

dren are not parrots, and they should not be educated like 
parrots. They dwell in the dawn of manhood. Their minds 
were created for truth; and let us give it to them, not as we 
pack pork into a barrel, but as the sun, when it rises, floods 
the air with light and heat. All nature takes these bless- 
ings, and appropriates them to unnumbered uses. Children 
should be educated to the knowledge of truth in such way 
that they can master it, own it, absorb it, assimilate it and 
make it a part of themselves; so that when they have occa- 
sion to reproduce it, it may not be returned like dry goods 
out from a box, but in the form of true reflective thought 
radiating from their own central souls. 

" Now, it is in full accordance with what has just been said 
to add, that schools must not be expected to teach all that it is 
good to know. It is enough that they furnish those element- 
ary courses of study on which all valuable learning rests as a 
foundation. In after life, when school days are over, and the 
special vocation of life is settled, it is easy to build upon 
this foundation any special science or art or accomplishment, 
without danger of wasting time or labor." 

At the end of the address, Father Walworth rises to the 
eloquence of his real earnestness. I am not willing to admit 
that the exclusion of religious teaching " yields up the lachools 
to an atmosphere of atheism," nevertheless, it is impossible 
not to admire the outspoken courage and the temperate policy 
of his closing words. 

" If circumstances are such that, when religion is taught in 
the schools, any part of that teaching must necessarily be 
such that we are to be excluded from the benefit of those 
schools, I regret it. We form a part of the country, and we 
love it. We have already shed some warm, red blood for it, 
and we are ready to do so again. But if it should become 
necessary for us to choose between these two alternatives, 
namely, either to be taxed for an education which yields us 
no benefit, or to yield up the schools to an atmosphere of 
atheism, why, then, tax us, and shut us out, but save society 
from atheism. Any religion is better than no religion at all. 
A world in which God and duty to God are recognized, albeit, 
misunderstood, is better than a world without a God. 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 359 

" I do not ask that everything which is true in religion 
shall be taught in all the schools of the State. I make no 
demand at all for the systematic teaching of it. Under the 
actual circumstances, I only ask that God, duty to God, and 
the Christian revelation, shall be publicly, formally and daily 
recognized. A certain atmosphere of reverence and piety al- 
ways hovers about a Christian school, shines in the teacher's 
eyes, and breathes in the text-books. Beyond this, a true 
charity and wise liberality will enable teachers to avoid 
giving offense. There is a wonderful magnetism in true 
charity. That prudence which comes from above finds many 
a smooth road, without sacrifice of principle." 

Father Walworth's life was many-sided. It would be unjust 
and unfair to speak of him either only in the highest and 
holiest part, which was the inspiration of it all, namely, his 
life as a priest, or in its most conspicuous phase, as a pubiic- 
spirited citizen. He was a man of marked personality and 
most attractive character. He had given himself the culti- 
vation of travel by a voyage round the world; his literary 
taste was refined and rich; he had the great love for study 
which made books the companions of his solitude. Horace, 
his favorite Latin author, gave to his very tongue's -end the 
sharp and keen sayings which enlivened and enriched his 
conversation; and he was, as I wish more men were, a con- 
stant reader and a devoted lover of Sir Walter Scott. Good 
tests and touchstones both these are, it seems to me, of a true 
love of literature, and both ministering. Sir Walter Scott 
especially, to enrichment of the mind. He was much given, 
especially in his later life, to the silence and seclusion of his 
study. He lived by rule, in the most regular and methodical 
way. So far as I know, his fellow citizens saw all too little 
of his social side; but see him as one would, and where one 
could, he has left behind him, not only in my mind, but in 
the memorabilia of Albany, the picture of a man, the four 
squares of whose completed character I should set down as 
these: Courage as a man, courtesy as a gentleman, consistency 
as a Christian, and constancy as a priest. 

It is not enough, my friends, that we should honor his char- 
acter; it is not enough that we should keep fresh his name 
as one of those not born to die; it is not enough to thank 



360 Honored by Albany. 

God for what he did for the highest and best interests of the 
city and the State; a cenotaph is an empty tomb, and a com- 
memoration that forgets to preserve by perpetuating it the 
influence of a life is an empty honor. If we would render 
Clarence Walworth the due meed of reverent recognition, it 
must be done by the imitation of his private virtues, the 
emulation of his public spirit, and the maintenance of the 
principles for which he spent his life as a citizen. 

After the selection from " Lohengrin," Mr. Wheeler B. 
Melius spoke. 

ADDRESS OF MR. MELIUS. 

Personal Recollections of the Deceased Clergyman. 

Mr. Melius spoke as follows: 

It was with some little hesitation that I consented to speak 
on this occasion, as I knew that in paying my simple tribute 
to the memory of him who was my friend, it would be neces- 
sary for me to make frequent references to myself, and, there- 
fore, I beg your indulgence and patience. But I felt that I 
could not allow this opportunity to pass without an attempt, 
at least, to show the reverence and affection in which I held 
Clarence A, Walworth. 

My acquaintance with Father Walworth began more than 
a quarter of a century ago, and during that time our relations 
were governed by the closest and warmest friendship; and I 
had many opportunities of studying the greatness of his char- 
acter and valuing his profound knowledge of men and things. 
He was a linguist of more than ordinary ability, and I know 
of no one now to whom I can go for the derivation of the 
Iroquois language. The people of Albany grieve that death 
has stilled the poetic fancy from which sprang the beautiful 
rhymes and poems, so well framed and formed, containing so 
much of the character and nature of the Indian, with which, 
under the nom de plume of John A. Bird, Father Walworth 
delighted his readers. 

Little things sometimes tell volumes of hidden character, 
and in this connection let me briefly tell you the following 
true story of Father Walworth: It is a well-known fact 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 361 

that the post-office is regarded by our people as the great 
bureau of information of a city. After leaving the city, people 
often wish for information, and they usually apply to the 
postmaster. If the information sought for relates to matters 
of recent date, the letter carrier usually can give it; but the 
case of which I speak went back farther than the memory of 
the letter carrier could reach. A letter was recxsived by our 
postmaster which read as follows: 

" To the Postmaster of Albany, N. Y. : 

" Dear Sir, — When I was quite a little child, my father 
and mother, and two little brothers, left your city to go south- 
west. I was very small, the youngest, and hardly knew what 
the purpose was of our journey. Later on in life I learned 
that it was for the purpose of bettering our condition. We 
arrived at St. Louis late in the evening and, being poor and 
quite a large family to care for, my father selected a cheap 
hotel, which was very large and of a frame structure, on the 
south of a public square. At midnight a fire broke out in the 
lower portion of the building. My father and mother and 
little brothers, with all our belongings, perished. I was left 
in the room, my father telling me that he would return for 
me. I was rescued from the upper story by the firemen. I 
was taken across the square into one of the houses of the 
neighbors. The next day all inquiry failed to find who my 
parents were. All I could remember was that we had lived 
in your city on Lady Clay hill. People made frequent inquiry 
of me as to the name of my father and mother. I could only 
say they had no names, only mamma and papa, and my 
brothers, Eddie and Tommie. I never could think of their sur- 
names. Fortunately for me, I fell into the hands of a very 
considerate man and his wife. They having no children, I 
soon became attached to them and they to me. I grew to 
womanhood. My foster father was a physician, and I soon 
learned to love them. Having been nicely educated I met with 
and married my foster father's nephew, who was also a 
physician. When the war broke out my husband entered the 
Confederate army and was killed. My foster father and 
mother having no children, I was adopted by them. They both 
died. I inherited their estate. My husband left an abundant 



362 Hoi^oKED BY Albany. 

estate also, which I inherited. With an abundance of this 
world's goods, and being left alone, having only acquaintances, 
none by blood, I do so anxiously want to know of whom I am. 
I want to know my people. I cannot tell you their names. 
I can only say they lived on Lady Clay hill." 

The letter certainly called for an answer. The postmaster, 
clerks and letter carriers could give no information. It was 
sent to me, and I at once took it to Father Walworth. I knew 
the pathos of the letter would deeply move his great, loving 
heart, and enlist a sympathy which would not tire nor abate 
until the desired information was obtained. So, with nothing 
to guide us but the meager facts contained in the letter, we 
began the search. We first obtained the date of the fire at 
St. Louis, and after days of diligent work, succeeded in ob- 
taining information concerning the family through a Mrs. 
Todd, a lady 80 odd years of age, whose mind was clear and 
whose memory (like that of most aged people) was of the 
past rather than of the present. Upon Father Walworth 
reading the letter to her, she said : " Yes, I remember the 
whole family. I remember their moving away and promising 
to write to me, for I knew these children and was quite fond 
of them, and now this tells the story of the reason why I did 
not hear from them." In a few days we had procured the 
register of baptism of each child, the name of the father and 
mother, and the godfather and godmother of these children. 
We found an aunt and a niece. The niece was in the employ 
of one of the Pearl street stores, and the aunt was living on 
Sheridan avenue. This was a happy day for Father Wal- 
worth, who evinced the keenest delight in his success. He 
conducted the correspondence and soon had the satisfaction 
of witnessing the reunion of the family in this city. This is 
one of the little things that tell of character; the acts ex- 
terior tell of the man interior. 

His Work on Bi-Centenary. 

At the time of the Bi-centennial, as one of the committee on 
tablets, Father Walworth was consulted, for he was a very 
active factor in bringing about the success of the Bi-Centen- 
nial. It was resolved by this committee that notable places 
should be marked with tablets. All of the churches of aged 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 363 

origin were included in the list of places so to be marked. 
When we came to prepare the tablet for St. Mary's Church, 
I tried very hard to induce Father Walworth to prepare the 
inscription to be placed upon it. This he refused to do, but 
he gave us the necessary data and matter, and finally we 
wrote this: "Site of old St. Mary's Church, built A. D. 1797; 
the first Catholic parish in Albany and second in the State. 
The entrance directly under this tablet; a second building on 
this same spot, facing on Chapel street, was the original 
Cathedral of this diocese." When we were ready to j)lace 
this tablet upon the church, Father Walworth passed around 
to Pine street. He carried a stick in his hand and, with this 
he touched the wall of the church and said : " Right under 
this spot was the entrance to the old church; that, it seems 
to me, is the fitting place for the tablet. Here the people 
entered in and departed from the church for many, many 
years." And upon that very spot which he indicated, the 
tablet is now fastened. 

A few days before the beginning of the celebration of the 
Bi-Centennial, a gentleman of this city met me on the street 
and said : " You know, I have a large quarry of pure Barre 
granite, and I would like to give to the city of Albany a block 
of granite, the weight of which is, say thirty tons, send it to 
this city, deliver it at the foot of State street, and from there 
you could deliver it to any place that you may determine 
upon." It was then too late to accept this offer as there was 
not time, even had the granite been at the foot of State street, 
to bring it to the place which we had thought of, namely, 
the Academy park, and, therefore, we concluded not to accept 
it. It was a matter of regret to all of us that we had to 
come to this conclusion. ^Vhen Father Walworth heard of 
this he very much regretted the decision. He said: "What 
an excellent thing it would be if we could get this block 
of thirty tons of granite and place it in the Boys' Academy 
park. We could put on one side a tablet of bronze, and say: 
' This to commemorate Kilian Van Rensselaer, the first patroon 
of the manor ; ' on the other side, ' This to commemorate 
Philip Schuyler, the first Mayor; ' then on one end we could 
place a tablet with the inscription, ' This to commemorate 
Johannes Megapolensis, the first Dutch minister; an educated 



364 Honored by Albany. 

man and a Christian gentleman.' It would be the grandest 
of all gifts. It would commemorate the Bi-Centennial ; it 
would be recognizing the early settlers of this city — a matter 
which has been very much neglected." Then I reminded him 
that he had left one end without a tablet and inscription, and 
he said : " Well, let that go to a later day ; sone one will 
merit that end." 

He also remarked what an educator it would be. Here the 
child would roll his hoop, or cast the ball in play, and he 
would run over to get it — perhaps it would be stopped by 
this granite block — and he would look down, and read these 
statements. He would think of them. He would return to 
his own home and tell of them. He would ask his father 
about Megapolensis. Perchance his father would refer him to 
a teacher at either of the schools which now face the park 
where that monument would be. " Then," Father Walworth 
said, " don't you remember the story of Father Jogues, whose 
life was saved by Polenses ? — To-day his name is almost 
dropped from the speech of the people. Why should we not 
make his name a living light to the children that are now 
growing up in this district." 

I think of how, as he stood there, his long arms reached 
out — how they seemed to draw you toward him — the high, 
and the low, the rich, the poor, the humble, the exalted ; I 
think of his gieat life, with its high aspirations and noble 
deeds, and of his devoted services as a citizen; and it is my 
living hope, that such a monument as Father Walworth spoke 
of should be erected, and that on the space which he left un- 
filled should be inscribed the words : " This to commemorate 
Reverend Clarence A. Walworth." 

The citizens' committee has deemed it proper to leave this 
matter with the citizens. Shall this granite block be placed 
in Academy park? Shall these tablets be placed upon it, 
bearing these inscriptions? It is my earnest wish and hope 
that, in the near future, the city of Albany will so com- 
memorate the lives of four of its greatest citizens; that the 
name, Clarence A. Walworth, in its bronze and granite setting, 
may be always before the eyes of coming generations; that 
it may lead them to study his noble life and example and 
to receive the inspiration of his high and true ideals! 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 365 

Father Elliott, who was the last speaker, made a deep im- 
pression on the audience. 

FATHER ELLIOTT'S TRIBUTE. 
Brief Summary of Dr. Walworth^s Life — His Finer Qualities. 
Very Rev. Walter Elliott, C. S. P., spoke in part as follows : * 

Clarence A. Walworth was born at Plattsburg, N. Y., 
May 30, 1820, being fourth child and eldest son of Reuben H. 
Walworth, the last chancellor of this State, He made his 
earlier studies at the Albany Academy, afterward entering 
Union College, from which he was graduated in 1838. He was 
inclined to a religious career from the beginning, but at the 
wish of his father he studied law and even began to practice. 
Soon he entered the Theological Seminary of the Episcopal 
Church in New York city. He became a member of the 
Catholic Church in 1845. Soon after this he applied for ad- 
mission to the Redemptorist order of missionaries, and by 
them was sent to their novitiate in Belgium, being accom- 
panied by Isaac T. Hecker, who had joined the Catholic Church 
about a year before him. 

Having finished his spiritual and scholastic preparation, 
Clarence Walworth was ordained a priest and spent a couple 
of years in laborious mission work in England. He came back 
to America in 1851, again in company with Father Hecker. 
From that time till 1865, Father Walworth, as Redemptorist 
and as Paulist, was constantly engaged in giving missions to 
Catholics, the excessive labors of such a life having much to 
do, as he was convinced, with undermining his constitution. 
His continued ill-health led to his leaving the Paulist com- 
munity. Returning to his native diocese, he was first given 
charge of St. Peter's Church, Troy, and in 1866. he became 
pastor of St. Mary's in this city. After a career of remarkable 
usefulness both to his parishioners and to his fellow citizens 
generally, Father Walworth departed to his eternal reward 
September 19, 1900. 



* For this Address, revised and enlarged, see Catholic World Magazin e, 
June, 1901. It is there entitled: "Father Walworth, a Character 
Sketch." See also, in this book, page 132, a quotation from Father 
Elliott's Sketch, in which Father Walworth is depicted as a remarkable 
preacher to the hardened sinner. 



366 Hoi^oRED BY Albany. 

This is a brief summary of the life of a man distinguished 
for natural gifts of a high order united to priestly holiness 
of the most edifying kind. He was a man characterized 
especially by love of virtue and hatred of vice, above all of 
that vice of drunkenness and its attendant evil of saloon 
keeping, associated together for the destruction of the people. 

Father Walworth, although he spent his best energies fight- 
ing vice, was yet naturally of a gentle disposition. His 
manner was kindly, his conversation was toned with deference 
for others. He was a positive man, but not self-opinionated, 
and no one could be a more pleasant companion among priests 
or laymen. His friendships were warm, and those of early 
days were especially tender, enduring to the end of his life. 
He had a sincere admiration for the solid Dutch character. 
Many of his school and college mates were of that stock, 
and we have heard his econiums on their earnest natures, 
their steady resolution, their slow but constant progress in 
college and civil life, so often crowned with the highest prizes 
of State and nation. 

Host Touching Evidence. 

Perhaps the most touching evidence of Father Walworth's 
affectionateness was his friendship for Edgar P. Wadhams, 
first bishop of Ogdensburg. This noble soul was Father Wal- 
worth's fellow pilgrim on the hard road to the Catholic faith. 
They were worthy of each other, and they loved each other 
as did David and Jonathan, soul knit to soul. Walworth 
worshipped the upright, truthful nature of his friend, as 
strong as it was gentle, more flexible than his own, and 
equally courageous; and Bishop Wadhams returned his afTec- 
tion with the generosity of one who, knowing men, could 
value their rarer and sterner virtues. 

The people of Albany well know how sincere a character 
was Father Walworth's. A more open character never could 
be found. In private life, it was a deep joy to meet such a 
man, who gave you a clear view to the bottom of his mind. 
In public conduct, no less than in private, he ever acted 
openly. Though he was continually fighting against that 
class of evil-doers whose tactics are the most deceitful, saloon- 



Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 367 

keepers and political tricksters, Father Walworth never laid 
ambushes. The meanest of traitors had from him all the 
rights of war; he was as honorable in his methods as he was 
unflinching in his courage. 

This true nature was the man of " Yea, yea, and Nay, nay." 
Whatever was good had Walworth's instant "All hail," and 
kept his final allegiance. What was bad must endure his 
anathema. If his loyalty to right never faltered, his war 
against vice never knew a truce. 

Father Walworth was no extremist, but rather he was 
of a moderate temper of mind. Courage he had to dare any 
foe for God and the people, and yet he remained a man of 
conservative leaning, consulting the due forms of law, wary 
of the methods, avoiding even the lingo of fanatics, but 
always so candid and fearless as to shame timid associates, 
while winning the applause of honest men of all religions. 

Attached to this hearty square-dealing with friend and foe 
— or one may say its reward — was Father Walworth's 
spontaneous good humor. The Psalmist's words fitted him: 
" Thou hast loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore hath 
Grod, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness." 

The people of Albany have often heard his eloquent words. 
But they will bear with me if I say that it was as a mission- 
ary that his endowments as a persuader of men were best 
displayed. I have heard many fine preachers, but not one 
who was his equal in driving the fear of God into sinners' 
souls. His mission sermons broke the adamantine crust of 
sin over men's souls like an egg shell. He had the best voice 
for public speaking I ever heard. He had a voice that could 
stop an army. 

He was like Elias of old: "Are not my words a hammer 
which breaketh the rock in pieces ? " He was the Lord's ham- 
mer. Nor was this the mere pulverization of the culprit's 
self-assurance; it was, besides, the melting of his heart into 
tender longings for the Divine friendship. After his awful 
arraignment of sinners, his confessional was by no means 
avoided, by penitents, in favor of his fellow missionaries. The 
most abandoned wretches, after sitting under his preaching 
pale and nerveless with terror, would often enter his confes- 
sional by preference; they had felt something of love vibrating 
amid the imperious tones of that voice. And with Father 



368 Honored by Albany. 

Walworth they ever found the balm of hope for the agonized 
pain of the fear of Divine wrath Avhich he had been the means 
of inflicting. 

The Good Lives After Him. 

But he was best known for the good he did in Albany as 
parish priest of St, Mary's. This developed beautiful traits 
in his character. He was a devoted father to his people. He 
overflowed with the tenderness and the watchfulness of pas- 
toral love. Some of my hearers were present at his funeral, 
and heard the beautiful sermon of his friend, Father P. H. 
McDermott. High as were those eulogiums, they were all 
truly deserved. He loved all his people. If he had any 
preferences, they were for hard sinners, for the poor, for the 
sick, and for the little ones — he was a priest always full of 
unfeigned sympathy, deeply concerned for his people's eternal 
and temporal welfare. 

Without neglecting his full duty to his parishioners, Father 
Walworth meantime and always fought the saloon-keepers of 
this State in the lobbies and before the committees of the 
Legislature. In this work, so harassing and disappointing, 
yet so essential, he was united with Bishop Doane and other 
public-spirited citizens. And you all know how persistently 
he resisted the local saloon interest and other disorderly ele- 
ments in this city itself. To such a line of conduct some 
Catholics objected. Why should a Catholic priest, they asked, 
meddle in politics? Because, answered Father Walworth, 
the enemies of Catholic virtue, the worst enemies of the 
Catholic Church, use politics for the corruption and ruin of 
the people. 

I am too good a citizen, he would say, in effect, to allow 
my priesthood to obscure my sense of duty as a citizen. It 
would be a pitiful thing if a parish priest should be hindered 
by his own vocation smiting vice intruded into the very 
sanctity of the laws, a monstrous thing that religion should 
be prevented from aiding civic virtue, banning bribery and 
corruption. 

God rest the noble soul of Clarence Walworth f As man, 
citizen, priest, missionary, he was faithful and true to God 
and Church and fellow citizens. 

Finis. 



AN AFTERTHOUGHT. 



The honorable mention of Father Walworth at Albany in 
1901 has filled many pages of this book. A few more words 
will bring its conclusion up to date. Six months after he 
died his fellow-citizens met to do him honor and listened to 
the words of Father Elliott. Six years after that memorable 
meeting his name was again spoken by eloquent lips and, as 
before, by a Paulist Father. This time the speaker came to 
Albany not from the national capital but from Chicago. In 
the "ides of March," 1907, Reverend Father Gillis, C. S. P., 
stood in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and man- 
fully answered with calm reason a mixed batch of questions 
from non-Catholics. They were such as these: 

" Why don't the priests join with the ministers in the 
anti-saloon crusade? Why, so many Catholics in the saloon 
business? Why are they not excommunicated?" 

In answer to the first question, he said: 

" That is their own business. I am not judge of the priests 
of Albany, and I doubt not they have their own reasons for 
what they do or don't do. But one thing may be said. The 
Catholic theory upon the right of a man to run a saloon is 
different from the theory ordinarily held by ministers. Some 
churches teach and many ministers maintain that drinking 
and saloon keeping as well as smoking and card playing are 
always and essentially sinful. That is false. There is a dis- 
tinction between sin and the things that lead to sin. * * * 
We are as strong as anyone against sinful saloon keeping." 

Here the missioner quoted from laws of conduct for Catho- 
lics as laid down by the Baltimore Council. In answering the 
next query he used the Albany City Directory to disprove some 
exaggerated statements that were added to the direct ques- 
tion. Afterwards, he said: "A man may have a Catholic 
name and be a heathen." Other answers of his, together with 
these, may be found reported in the Argus, March 16, 1907. 



370 Life Sketches of Father Walworth. 

Enough has been here given to show how he was beset by 
prejudiced questioners at the close of a very successful mis- 
sion, which he had preached in company with Reverend Father 
Thomas Burke, C. S. P. We are only concerned in this con- 
nection, with the facts that led up to a sudden exclamation 
with which Father Gillis clinched his arguments and drove 
them home to his hearers. Let us give to him the last word. 
While still speaking impromptu, he said: 

" One of the greatest temperance advocates the city of 
Albany ever had was, I have been told, a Catholic priest,. 
Father Walworth!" 

E. H. W. 

91 Columbia St., Albany, N. Y. 

August 15, 1907. 




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